Trainers Who Defined a Revolution
by BeastBrd
Summary: This is the story of how some Trainers, or advanced Pokémon duelists, rise against a great power. Keep reading! It won't sound like a Pokémon story at first, but it will! Original Characters. Please review! It would make me feel better about my story and my self, positive or negative comments. Complete.
1. Man With a Scar

The boots thudded into the tavern, a low, dark, smoky place, and everybody turned to look at the man walking in. Some shied away from the very sight of him; others disregarded him as just another man, but the big names knew him as a bounty worthy of a great amount of money. The man wasn't large in stature; in fact, he was a bit shorter than average. What really unnerved people was his presence, his bearing, and his attire.

His coat were just splashes of dark colors: blood red, mud brown, navy blue, all tied together with bands of black. His boots were black cow-hide, with red laces, and skirted about with the hem of his jeans, which were also black. His shirt's design was a color-splashed mess, it seemed, but everybody would know what the logo stood for if he removed his trench coat, which hung down to half-an-inch above the floor, his hands fiddling with something in his pockets, each. His necklace hung down, about mid-way between his pecs, and bore a small, flat, shiny pokèball trinket. His chin, defined, but not jutting, was clean shaven...or, it had been about three days ago; now, it was stubble-ridden. His cheekbones were visible, but weren't defined. His left cheek bore a scar that ran across his left eye and above his browline about an inch. Nobody knew what his eyes looked like; he always wore dark shades, which were supported by a strong roman nose. His dark brown hair, almost black, looked as if it had been slicked back a day-and-a-half-ago, but has since lost the firmness and wet look of the gel, and now was dry spikes.

He looked around the tavern, immediately picking out the noteable people from the common citizenry. The bigwigs huddled around tables in the darker corners of the tavern, and some smoked ciggarettes from long, thin tubes of silver, while others puffed away at cigars.

_Disgusting, _he thought. There was almost no act more vile than smoking. The man continued his embarkment towards the bar, where the citizens usually sat, and placed himself on a stool a few seats from anybody else.

The bartender placed himself in front of the man, and busied himself with a wet mug that needed dried. "What'll it be?" he asked.

"What do you have?" the man asked no later than a second after the bartender finished, with a smokey voice that was low and calm.

"Try me."

"I'll have water."

"Tsk. You came in here for a mug o' wateh? You could've stayed home and saved yerself the trouble of walkin' down the street fo' a measly ol' mug o' wateh. Of all things, wateh. Why don'tcha order a real drink?" He talked and poured him water, despite all his grumblings.

"I don't drink regularly."

"Oh, you're one of them tha' likes to keep 'imself clean, am I right?" The last three words had weird emphasis on them.

"No, it just impairs my judgement when I don't want it to be impaired."

The bartender took one last look into his shades, then set the mug down in front of the man. As he did, he noticed the little Pokèmon trinket on the brown lace. He was distracted for a bit, then stared directly where the eyes were, and bore a look that matched his thoughts, which were whispered ever so faintly, "Ahhh, so yer a trainer, I see."

The words spoken were so faint, the man had trouble hearing them. Nobody in the tavern heard a single breath.

The man said nothing, sufficing only for a small nod. A ghost of a smile flickered across the bartender's face, then he hurried to serve a small group of friends who became comfortable at a table in the middle of the floor.

The man took a sip of the water, to make sure no alcohol had perverted its clean look, and when he was satisfied, took a large swig of the water. He then took this opportunity to turn around, lean on the bar, and look around at the way the tavern was laid out. The bar took up about a fifth of the available space; the rest was taken up by tables, a certain one being a billiards table, and a small section open for people to dance to the jukebox, rested against the wall, waiting to accept money in return for music. The tables that were occupied mostly had small trails of smoke rising into the air, which he then noticed was ventilated by a few air ducts; silent, but present and working. Around these ducts hung lamps with conical covers, reflecting the light downwards, so people could more clearly see each other. There was one corner where the light didn't reach, and that's where the "masters", or men of power, sat. He then noticed that one table in particular was paying some extra attention to him, which made him become excited: an emotion he rarely showed.

He then studied the people a bit more. None of them seemed to notice him anymore; he was just another person in the large world. They all busied themselves with conversation and news and events, whatever got their mind off of the current circumstances of the world. Although many preferred this method, some resorted to drinking large amounts of alcohol. It was not late enough for the drunk individuals to emerge yet, but it would happen soon...if something didn't happen first.

He chuckled at himself, then turned his attention back to the mug of water. It sat there, waiting for the water to disappear so it may be used again. The man noticed the bartender move back to talk to him, and he was not disappointed when the bartender spoke.

"The men over in the corneh," he pointed them out, "would like teh have a word with yeh. They said they knew yeh and wanted teh speak to yeh."

The man made no indication that he understood, save a smile that formed itself with half his lips.

"You don't mind a fight in here, do you?"

"Only of ye don't pay fer damages," he said with a sly smile.

"Well, that was a good drink," the man said, and paid for it with a sum of money much more than what the amount of water was worth: payment in advance. He rose, and walked over to the dark corner of the tavern.

"You wanted me."

The "master", apparently in charge, said, "We don't like your kind in this part of town. We will kindly oblige you if you don't walk away." His voice was as sharp as the look in his eyes, even though, he thought, it was supposed to sound convincing. He then placed the bare end of the ciggarette holder in his mouth.

The man took another look at the "master", studied him for a split second. His shirt seemed to be a mixture of a yellow and white coat and shirt, respectively. Around his neck hung a gold chain and the links seemed to form an electric current line. On a few of his fingers were small, golden rings. All of his features were angular and rigid, and it didn't stop at his skin; his hair was yellow-blonde, and formed inch-long spikes.

Before he removed the ciggarette, the man started, "Zack, electric superior, in charge of a third of the city, and a fifth of the county. Suspected for multiple murders, Pokèmon cruelty cases, and a single monopoly case, involving electric-type Pokèmon labor, mainly Raichus."

Zack's face went from confident and smug to resentment and malice over a time-span of five seconds. He threw the table aside, landing wherever it did, and rose, showing his sheer height and terrifying size. The man stood, seemingly unaware of all this, and continued staring him in the eyes. "How did you know that?"

"It doesn't take much to notice all the pride you take in electricity, and you lack a different favorite color than yellow."

The two men stared at each other for a while longer, unaware of all the attention they were receiving that silenced the entire tavern. After what seemed an eternity, Zack swung at the man, who deftly dodged and backflipped away. He then withdrew two small, red and white balls from his pocket, and then pressed the single buttons on the fronts. They grew and he threw them into the air, and yelled, "Pidgeot! Butterfree! Use gust and clear a reasonable fighting area!"

The two balls spun alongside each other, and, when they were in the right spot, opened, allowing a red mist of matter into the air, which then quickly formed a falcon-sized bird and a falcon-sized butterfly. They violently flapped their wings, no need to fear for the citizens because they already retreated to the walls for safety and distance, and made a rough, rectangular shape. Zack, on the other end of the arena, withdrew virtually identical balls and threw them out, yelling, "Jolteon! Magneton! Come forth!" and the same sequence happened, placing his Pokèmon on or near the ground.

"This will be a quick fight," Zack said, clearly thinking he had the advantage.

"I'm glad you see it my way," the man said, with his excitement nearly reaching its peak. He brought his fist forward and held the other back, as if he was fighting an invisible foe, and yelled, "Pidgeot, swift attack! Butterfree, stun spore!" The Pokèmon sprang into action, and effectively dealt with the Pokèmon; Pidgeot distracting them as Butterfree released the entrancing powder, causing the Pokèmon to slow or even become useless as their limbs forgot to react to their will. "Pidgeot, tackle jolteon! Butterfree, use confusion on Magneton!" Zack was yelling orders at his Pokèmon, obviously becoming more and more angry that _his_ Pokèmon were losing. "Pidgeot, use whirlwind! Butterfree, add your gust to her attack!" The ensuing blasts of wind became violent and impacted the Jolteon and Magneton so intensely that they were immediately knocked out, both conciously and literally, in the sense of the tavern.

Zack's eyes met with the man's, and he stated clearly and sharply, "This isn't over." He then left and his companions followed. He counted four, as he forgot to do so before. The man turned to the bartender, who was grinning so wide he was practically beaming at him.

"That was marvelous! I am so surprised they jus' decided to leave afteh that!"

The man smiled with half his lips, and said, "I'm not, although I wish they had fought a bit longer. I was having fun."

The bartender looked at his tavern's protector and asked gingerly, "Can I get yer name, sir?"

The man looked on, turned to the crowd and announced in a loud, yet modest tone, "I am Felix, and I will liberate you all from your oppression of the 'masters'!" At this bold declaration, everybody cheered, and rooted him on. Felix rose his hand to silence them, and when they fell quiet, he told them, "However, you CAN...NOT...speak a word to anybody about what happened in this tavern, what I look like, who I am, or what Pokèmon I possess. Absolutely not a single word must ever reach another person's ear. Is that clear?" The last three words had a weird emphasis on them. The people agreed, but that wasn't good enough for Felix. He said again, but sharper this time, "Is...that...clear?!" The last word was louder than the rest.

The people, realizing the gravity of the situation at hand, gave a more affirmative answer, from each of them, swearing that they would not tell a single person, not even their families.

Felix smiled, and said, "Wait for me to rise against the "masters", then follow me."

After this statement, Felix left the tavern into the towering buildings and jumbled streets of what was Supinion City.


	2. The Boy

Felix resisted the urge to raise a hand to the blinding sun, as he was already wearing shades, and didn't want to draw extra attention to himself. The building across the street seemed to be made completely of windows, and that was annoying, because the sun was already in his eyes, but was made more intense from the extra sun. He checked the sky, searching for anything that might be following him. He found only clouds and buildings.

Felix walked down the street eastward. The size of the buildings made him feel insignificant as he walked passed. However, that did not stop them from blurring into one brown and red, and sometimes green due to trees, transition of clustered city life to open country air.

As he neard the exit of the city, a large, pompous gate, Felix stopped abruptly. He slowly turned, a bit apprehensive as to who, or what, was following him. He scanned all the people as they moseyed or hurried by, but none seemed to pay any direct or extended attention to him. Felix conitinued watching, waiting for the source to manifest itself, and he quickly found the source: a young man trying to hide behind a restaurant's street sign, but failing miserably.

The boy peeked out from behind the sign one more time, but was not prepared to see Felix within a foot of his hiding place. He stifled a short yelp, and fell over. The boy tried to pick himself up, and ran into another few people on his way up. Apologizing profusely, he finally seemed to get his act back together, and stood up straight. When he inhaled to calm himself, Felix could finally get a good look at him. The boy was no older than 18, at most, and had very light brown hair: the most noticeable feature. He wore a plaid shirt that seemed to have gone days un-washed. His jeans were a sky-blue, and featured a stain about mid-calf on the outide of his left leg, and a chain attached to his right-side belt loop and inserted into his front-right pocket. His...shoes, if you could call them that, seemed to be missing the threads that held them together, and now seemed to be a frankenstein project with ductape. his face bore no hair, and his nose was long and thin, but didn't protrude further than abnormal. The boy's eyes were the most intriguing thing, though. They were turquiose, a color not commonly found in this part of the country. His left ear had a small loop piercing, that, if any smaller, would hug the ear tight.

They stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something. The boy finally spoke, saying, "Ahem...so, uhhh..." He obviously couldn't pursue this thought any further. "So, what's your name?" His voice sounded...underdeveloped: almost finished, but not quite low enough.

"I'm sorry?" he said in a tone that wasn't offended, but a bit sarcastic.

"I just saw your scar, and I thought that...uhhh...I would like to know the name of the man who bore such an awesome scar."

Felix wasn't offended at the mention of his scar, but more caught off-guard by it.

The boy saw this, and immediately went into a flurry of stuttering and apologizing, which was silence by Felix raising his hand, and simply stated, "Follow me."

He then turned and headed straight for the gate. The boy was a bit troubled, but eventually decided he didn't have anywhere else to go, so he stayed close to the man with a scar.

As they neared a street which they had to cross, a bicyclist sped past, almost knocking Felix down. The man yelled some undiscernable things at the duo, and rode away. _Sounded like Intargan, _Felix thought.

"Do you know what he said?" Felix heard from behind.

"What?"

"He said some pretty nasty things."

Felix stared at him for a bit, then said, "You know Intargan?"

"Well, yeah, I also know Yomin."

Felix was astounded...but he would have been even more so if he didn't already know Yomin. Everybody knew at least a bit Yomin in these parts.

"Well, let's keep going," Felix stated, then kept walking to the gate.

They reached the gate, paid their toll to leave, then the guard whispered in Felix's ear, "So, you got another apprentice, huh?"

"If you want to call him that, hehe. I still don't know anything about him."

"Well, if he doesn't work out, just drop him off here. I'll take care of him."

"I can always count on you."

The guard nodded, then resumed his job.

On the other side of the gate was an expanse of grassy field, until it ended at the forest. Somewhere deep in the forest, a mountain range started, and the trees covered that, too. The blue sky slugged by, with an occasional cloud here and there.

They walked, and as they walked, the city shrunk into the distance. However, It never disappeared...that is, until they reached the forest. Felix walked with certainty through the trees, not taking a second thought about where he was going. Without warning, he stopped, then turned around and asked, "So, my name?"

"What? I di-"

"You wanted to know my name, I know, but first you must do something."

"What?" the boy asked, his fear and confusion completely disapparated.

"Tell me yours."

"Nils. My name is Nils. I'm from-"

"I don't need to know where you're from, I just wanted to know your name."

Felix turned, and continued down the path some more. Nils followed, and said, "You never told me your name."

Without stopping, Felix turned his head, and saw he was a bit disappointed, but hopeful. "I never said when I will tell you." With that, Felix took a sharp turn to the left, and disappeared into the trees.

Nils was right on his heels though. _Good reflexes, _Felix thought. He dodged around the maze of trees, left, right, left, straight, right, left, then knocked on a tree with a distinctive sound and rhythm. A shout was heard in the distance, "Clear," then they continued on. Felix stopped at a certain group of trees, kneeled at the base of one, brushed the grass and tree-debris aside, then opened the trap-door. He stepped aside, signaling for Nils to enter.

After Nils climbed in, Felix followed, and descended into a tunnel. They walked, their vision illuminated by an occasional hanging lamp, which were all hung lazily, and then a fork in the road opened up. Felix walked left. Another fork, and Felix walked right. This continued for another two forks, then Felix suddenly stopped at a wall, which he stuck his hand into. And further into, until it had eaten his whole arm. He performed the hand motions with the man on the other side, and pulled his arm out, which started swinging in, until they could pass. Felix looked behind him, and Nils was still with him, thankfully. He allowed Nils to enter, and told him to go wait at the first sign he saw. Nils had no idea what to think of this, so he just went.

"So, is that your latest victim?" the man asked, jokingly.

"No, I think he's my first apprentice," Felix said with as much humor in his voice.

"Boy, you know where to find them and where to get rid of them, huh?"

"As do you, Marcus. Now tell me when anybody enters, It's important. I can't risk this place being discovered. I don't think the kid is in that kind of a situation, but one can never be too sure."

"Would you like me to send scouts?"

"Ghost Pokèmon? Other than that, no."

"Got it, I'll keep an eye out, sir."

"Good."

Felix walked to his companion, and led him to the opening of the arena.

"Now, tell me why you really wanted to know my name."

"What?"

"Your true motives. It's not because of my scar, you wanted to know something else about me. What is it?"

Nils tried his best to look dumbfounded, and when he noticed it wasn't going to work, he sighed and said, "I noticed your necklace, and I wanted to know if you were a Trainer."

"I am," Felix stated flatly.

Nils had an undiscernable emotion displayed on his face, a mix of understanding, regret, and awe. "So...who were the others?"

"Friends. Now, you wanted to know my name, right?"

Nils' face went from that weird combination of feelings to excitement, and said, "Yeah!"

"Then beat me in a Pokèmon match."

Nils' face went from excitement to blank, but his features were still stuck in excitement. "Is that a joke? Hehehe..." His laughing and muttering became indiscernable.

"I'm no God at Pokèmon battling, so it's possible to defeat me, one on one, one Pokèmon each. You win, my name is your prize."

Nils sighed and finally accepted his fate. "I'll duel you."

Felix smiled with half his lips, and asked, "Do you have any Pokèmon?"

"Just one, a Vaporeon."

"I'll use Scyther."

After that exchange, they entered the arena, and squared off at the regulation-sized duel area. "Nice place," Nils commented.

Felix looked around, and noticed just a small, circular, flat area, barely big enough to fit a duel arena and a stand for an audience. The cieling was high, to allow room for the flying Pokèmon. Easily, this was the room that his team spent the most time on. "I guess you're right. Ready?"

"Yeah."

They stared at each other's eyes for a few seconds, then Nils shouted, "Vaporeon, emerge!"

"Scyther, go!"

The Pokèballs were flung into the air, leaving a Vaporeon and a Scyther in their wake.

"Vaporeon, hit 'im with a watergun!" Nils pointed dramatically.

"Scyther, use double-team! Then go with a quick attack!" Felix shouted, as he assumed the position of fighting an invisible foe.

Scyther split into two figures of himself, and Vaporeon became confused, choosing to attack the left one. Wrong choice. Scyther then sped over to slash Vaporeon, but he dodged before Scyther could do any damage.

"Good job Vaporeon, now use sand attack!"

"Scyther, use agility! Don't let that Vaporeon hit you!"

Scyther's eyes were splashed at with the dirt and sand mixture on the ground. Scyther's first instinct was to dodge away, but was too late. "Vaporeon, quick attack! Don't let him escape! Then use hydro pump!"

"Scyther, fly! Get off the ground!"

Scyther flew away just soon enough, but was hit by Vaporeon who leapt after him. Scyther plummeted to the ground. Vaporeon ended up standing over Scyther, and was about to use Hydro Pump. Felix saw his opportunity.

"Scyther! Use razor wind!"

Vaporeon's attack was interrupted by the whirlwind Scyther had started up. Vaporeon could do nothing about the situation, as it was being lifted it into the air. After a while, the wind started to cut Vaporeon in random places.

"Vaporeon! Move! Get away!" Nils' shouting didn't help his Vaporeon.

"Alright, Scyther! Use Slash!" Scyther stood, and took one last deliberate action: he reeled his arm, and then lunged at the Vaporeon. Nils' Pokèmon fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Vaporeon!" Nils yelled, as he ran to his fallen Pokèmon. When he reached Vaporeon, he comforted it, spoke to it softly, then pulled out a potion.

"No need, we have a Pokècenter here. We can heal your Vaporeon, don't worry."

Felix'es words comforted Nils, who said, "You are a good fighter. I thought I was actually going to win, hehe."

Nils recalled his Pokèmon, and gave it to a man who appeared on the spot, ready to go and heal Vaporeon.

Felix looked at Nils. "Felix."

"What?"

"My name is Felix."

"But I di-"

"Don't worry about that. I am going to make you my apprentice, and I will help you catch some Pokèmon." Felix crossed his arms. "But only if you want to fight for the cause."

"What cause?"

"The Revolution."

Nils' eyes grew bigger than Felix had ever seen them...which isn't saying much, as Felix doesn't know him very well. "Really? Y-you want _me_ to be a part of the Revolution?" Nils' mouth was working as if he was still talking, but he didn't make a sound.

"Yes. Starting today," he began, pulling out a Pokèball trinket on a thread from his pocket, and offered it to Nils, "you are in preperation to become a Trainer."


	3. Different Perspectives

"Vaporeon! Use quick attack!" Nils shouted in excitement, pointing to where he should go.

"Kirlia! Double team!" Marcus bellowed, thrusting his hand over the field, as if to test the wheat for harvest.

The Pokèmon immediately reacted to their trainers, and Vaporeon had to decide which Kirlia to contact. Instead of deciding, he simply aligned himself to be able to tackle both in one thrust. This was a successful maneuver, as the Kirlia fell down with a yelp.

"Alright, now use watergun! Wash it away!"

"Kirlia! Confusion, now!"

The Kirlia's eyes glowed, and Vaporeon was wrapped in a bluish light, lifted, and thrown aside. Vaporeon tumbled, then got up weakly, and finished it's attack. It spewed water at it's opponent. The Kirlia did it's best to dodge, but was impacted by the instant flush of water, and was blown into the wall. Kirlia managed to stay standing for a bit, but then keeled over, unconscious.

"Kirlia, return," Marcus said solemnly. "Good job, man. You really beat me." Nils responded with a smile. "However, that wasn't my best Pokèmon, especially against that type. You still have a ways to go before you can beat me."

"Well, I'll be able to do it." Marcus made a motion of tipping his hat, even though he didn't have one, replaced his Pokèball at his belt, then shuffled off to the audience stands. Nils looked up at the regulator, and shouted, "Next!" Nils was hoping to get one more defeat out of the fifth-tier Trainers. Felix could tell. He didn't think his Vaporeon could even make it that far.

"Now entering," John started, "Janice and her Growlithe."

_She never uses that Pokèmon, especially for practice. But, then again, no Trainer _I_ ever picked had a water type. _Uninterested in the battle or results of this match, Felix left for another part of the compound. Specifically, the information station.

Before he left the arena, he called out, "Marcus, follow me."

"Yessir," Marcus replied, then started making his way over.

Felix had a moment to study Marcus over, see if there was anything wrong with him. Marcus walked with a slight limp, one that he always had since childhood. If one wasn't watching him, they would never have noticed that Marcus had a limp at all. Marcus was also weathered from that battle, which was given away by the beads of sweat on his face. His pants and jacket were all made of denim, which were both worn and faded to light green. His shirt, however, was a well-kept red color, with a black "Overthrow!" splashed acrossed the front and back. Marcus was a slightly overweight black man, very noticeable in these parts. His nose was too big and ended too short for his certain facial complexion. His eyes were starting to wrinkle and redden, due to not being able to sleep: he puts in a lot of time for new members. His hair: nonexistent. He started to bald at age nineteen, then decided to shave it all off and remain bald. Marcus finally met with Felix, then stated, "Le's go."

They made their way to the information station, which was a couple tunnels down, on the left, as indicated by the sign crudely imbedded into the wall, identical in style to all the others. They both entered, then closed the door, so nobody could hear their conversation. Felix took his glasses off, then asked Marcus, "Did you lose to him on purpose?"

"No, sir. I thought you could tell."

"I'm sorry, I was spacing out."

"Not a problem, sir."

Apparently, him spacing out has become too common. Or Marcus is just being nice.

Felix sighed, then asked, "What do you think about Nils?"

Marcus wasn't prepared for this question, so it took him a short while to formulate an answer. "Well...Ah think...he is a very good addition to the team. He was born to duel with Pokèmon. Ah don't think you could've picked a better candidate."

"I feel the same way. Marcus, I'm going to have to leave soon. They need me in another outpost. I need you to follow a set of rules very strictly. Absolutely no wavering on these." Felix was a bit too soft on Marcus because of their history, but this was crucial.

"I hear ye, what are the rules?"

"Don't tell him about me. Specifically, my history. Don't tell him about what we did together. You can tell him we have been friends from birth, but nothing else. And...maybe the time about your leg." Felix was still uncomfortable discussing his friend's slight disability.

"You don't have to be uncomfortable. We're friends, and that's also where you got your scar."

For some reason, it didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable to have his physical reminders brought up.

"Also, don't tell him I'm the leader of everything, just of this outpost. Oh, and tell him there are other outposts. Just tell him I'm an expert at flying Pokèmon, and they need my expertise at another location."

"Will do."

"Good."

With that, they walked across the counter full of computer screens, keboards, mice and wires. Sometimes laptops cluttered the flow of things, but people didn't usually leave those here. Some computer screens had letters, others had news bulliten sites, and others had video cameras placed about on the surface of the land; the tunnels would be too noticeable. There was one that was dedicated to the ventilation system, showing blue on all the lines; for any danger or malfunction, it highlighted the area in red, then Pokèmon were sent to fix the problem. Felix stopped at one screen, clicked on a webcam icon, connected to a network, totally unassociated with the government's, and a video chat box opened. The man on the other side was shocked for a split second, then asked, "Are you going to come, Felix?"

"Yes, I'm going to come, I just happened to expand our forces."

The man look at the camera quizzically for a second, then smiled, "The more, the merrier."His smile vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Please hurry, we need help!"

"I'm gone, be there as soon as possible." Felix exited out of the program, then turned to Marcus. "Things run smoothly, right?"

"Right."

Felix smiled with half his lips, then said, "Good. Take care of everybody as if they were your brothers and sisters."

Marcus looked with a resolute look into Felix'es eyes, then gave a firm nod.

"Then I'll be off." 

* * *

Janice's Growlithe finished off Nils' Vaporeon, and he felt some sadness in his chest. He knew his Vaporeon wouldn't have a chance, but he fought anyways. _It was a noble act. _As he walked over to comfort his Vaporeon, he was met with a pretty, feminine face and a pretty, feminine, outstreched hand.

"Well done," came a voice...from her mouth.

"Ehhh...yeah...well done to you too...Janice." Nils carefully shook her hand. It felt like a piece of the clouds had descended in pretty girl form.

She placed a hand on her waist, as if she were about to give a speech...forget that, speeches aren't given with hands on waists; it's hips. "You fought valliantly, and almost beat me. But, I guess that's to be expected when I fight a water type with a fire type." She chuckled a little at her own...joke? Nils didn't know what to think of that, but laughed with her anyways.

"Do you think that...if Vapor was a bit faster, do you think he could have won?"

"Who's Vapor?"

_Oh, no! I let it slip!_

"If you're talking about your Vaporeon, I think it's a good name. It fits his personality well." She gave a sincere smile, and Nils' heart clenched up a little. _HEEHPH! _would be his thoughts right now.

Nils started to fidged and rub his head and mess with his hair a bit and finally started, "Well, uhhh, yaknow...I was a bit, ummm...embarrasedaboutitforawhile."

"Why?"

She didn't skip a beat with that question. "Uhhh...I just thought thaaat...giving pokemoooon naaaames...isssss...not cool?" he finished weakly.

She stared at him with a confused look on her face, and asked, "Why would that be not cool?"

Nils didn't have an answer. "Because...do you name your Pokèmon?"

"Of course I do! Growlithe just prefers Growlithe, don'chu Growlithe? Yes you do! Yes you do, huh?" She asked in a cutesey tone which one often uses on pets. She then scratched behind his ears and rubbed his back and scratched his chin..._Huhhh...I wish she would do-wait, let's not get weird here, _Nils reminded himself.

As Janice gave her Growlithe lovin's, Nils looked at Janice again. It was hard to tell, since she was kneeled down, but she was slightly shorter than Nils, even with the boots on. She wore slightly baggy, light brown cargo pants, which partially covered her light brown boots. All her Pokèballs were kept in her thigh pockets. She wore a hoodie tied around her waist with the sleeves. It was black with red running down the sides, under the arms. Her t-shirt was also slightly baggy, and was a mixture of puke green and brown. Her face was soft, as in her cheeks were cheeks, not mountains. In her right ear, a small Pokèball trinket was pierced. Her chin softly folded towards her neck, and her eyes were the most beautiful shade of deep blue. Her gorgeous, light brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, from which some strands had escaped during their match and were now hanging loosely around her face, which he thought was just for matches, but it seems she likes having it that way. Her frame was small and delicate-looking, but she beats him at arm wrestling matches every single time. It was so frustrating! Everybody tells him there's a strategy to it, but he-

"Nils!"

Suddenly aware of where he's at, Nils responds,"What?"

"Shouldn't you take Vapor to the medical station?"

Vapor's not...Oh, right! He was injured! "Uhhh, yeah! Lets go!"

They rushed out of the arena, then turned left. The fourth tunnel down was the medical station.

They entered, he handed Vapor over to Sam, and she looked mock-disappointed, said, "So, yoo deedn't vin after ahll, huh?"

Sam was taller than him by a lot, wore a medical robe, had on rubber gloves, safety glasses, which he could never figure out why, and a necklace that hung behind her robe. Her cheeks had the mountainous cheekbones, but her eyes were pretty. Her black hair fell in wavy ringlets behind her self.

"Hehe, can't win them all, can you?" Nils asked teasingly.

Janice placed her hands on her hips, and looked mock-offended "Honestly, Sam? Do you have such little faith in me? Why do I even try?" she said.

They all had a good laugh, while Sam placed Vapor's Pokèball into the machine.

"Hey, Sam," Janice said.

"Vat?"

"Did you know that Nils nicknames his Pokèmon?"

Nils' face started to flare up. He was sure he was blushing.

"Oohhh, how cyoote! Men dooing theengs like that are super-cyoote!"

"Except if they're being fake, only doing it for girls!"

"Ahhh! Neels! Ah you dooing eet only for ze girls?"

Now all of Nils felt hot and red, and he could tell both girls are trying their best to look super-cute. However, one looked cuter than the other. "Well, uhhh-"

"Aha! I knew it!" Janice pointed exaggeratedly at Nils' face. "You are a confirmed womanizer!"

"What?!"

Now, Sam looked mock-offended. "Ah! Neels! For shaime! I thot you vere betteh zen that!"

"No! I-"

"Don't even try it! You are guilty of womanizing and tricking girls!"

Nils thought his hair should even be red, now. Instead of fighting the impossible fight, he just buried his face into his hands, in an attempt to hide his blushing.

"You can't escape us, buster! We know all your secrets!"

That last statement jarred Nils into sudden realization. _How did they know? Am I really that bad at keeping secrets? When did they figure it out? I was so sure... _Nils' eyes were wide with terror, and his face hovered slightly above his palms. He sat frozen in fear, and heard nothing, felt nothing but pain and regret. He didn't know how long he sat there, but he felt a soft thing touch his shoulder. He looked at the source, and it turned out to be a hand. He followed up the arm, across the neck, and he finished by looking into the face. For minutes or moments, it was just a face. He then began recognizing it: it was Janice's. She had a confused, concerned look on her face.

"Nils? Are you okay?"

Nils stared at her face, then sounds began to come back to him. Sight, apart from Janice, also came back, and he could see Sam behind her. The room wasn't all that big, just had room enough for a desk, three tables and four chairs. And the machine that the Pokèballs go into.

"Did you really find out my secret?" Nils asked, after who knows how long?

The confusion on her face grew a bit, then said, "No, we were just teasing you about the 'cute' thing. If you have any secrets, we don't know them. We promise." Her voice somehow sounded even more sincere than usual.

He then noticed himself. He was sitting against a wall he was standing next to not...he didn't know how long ago, no longer than ten minutes, and Janice was kneeling next to him. On the right side, to be specific.

Nils laughed at himself, more of a sympathy laugh, then said, "I'm sorry, I get easily emotional when people talk about secrets I have."

Janice smiled, then said, "It's alright, you don't have to worry about that, I'll not talk or joke about that again. I'll also tell others not to!" That made Nils smile a real smile.

"Thank you, Janice, and you too, Sam."

"Don't vorry, I'll bee nicer to yoo, Neels."

Nils smiled even bigger, then remembered something important. "Hey, where's Felix?"


	4. Pokémon Training

Nils looked all over the place, but he couldn't find Felix...not that there was all that much to search. They had two arenas: one for water-pokemon training and the other for everything else. They had an information station, a medic station, a pokemon storage area, and a room for everybody to sleep in. There wasn't really all that much to this underground base; he always kinda thought that underground homes should have little houses and stores; kinda like a city, just about one millionth the size.

He sighed; Felix was nowhere to be found.

"Nils," Marcus said, catching his attention.

"What?"

"Are you lookin for Felix?"

"Yeah, it's just...idunno, I just wanted to tell him something."

"He's not here right now." _I know. _"He's at a different outpost."

"What? There are...what?"

"Yep. He's not gonna be back for awhile, now. He's an expert at flyin' type pokemon, so they needed his expertise somewhere else. He'll be back within two weeks."

Two weeks...

Nils didn't have anything important to do or talk about, so he decided to try and catch some pokemon.

"Marcus, would it be okay if I tried catching pokemon?"

"Of course not. Take these." Marcus fished aroud in his pocket for a while, then produced ten pokeballs. "Generally, the amount of pokemon a new Trainer is allowed to carry is only ten, so please don't disrespect that rule. When your skill is proven to be improved, then we can allow you more. This is because it's more difficult to take care of more pokemon at one time. However, nothing forbids you from swapping pokemon at the pokemon storage station."

A quick and effective way of teaching a newcomer about pokemon guidelines. "Thank you, Marcus."

Nils headed for the exit, then was stopped when Marcus said, "Where are you going?"

"What? I'm goi-"

"No! Not without a companion!"

"Oh..." Nils didn't think about that. "So...would you go with me?"

"No, I have to stay here and man the fort. Ask Janice or somebody."

"Ask me what?"

Nils turned to see Janice, standing there with her hands in her pockets. She had a bored look on her face.

"Ummm...Would you like to go...pokemon catching with me?"

Her face lit up like a firework, or a whole set of them. "Really? I haven't seen the sun in ages! When are we going? Let me get my pokemon!" And with that, she disappeared.

Nils stood there, feeling happiness. _This is basically like a d-NO IT IS NOT! Dude, come on! She's a partner, a partner that will take down the government! _

Nils looked at Marcus, then said, "Have fun together, just you and her." Then he smiled a smug smile, as if he planned this out.

Nils gave him a sidelong sneer, then Janice returned, and shouted, "Come on! Let's go!"

They left the fort, took a right, then headed through the tunnel system, barely big enough to fit three people wide, shoulder to shoulder. They rose closer to the ground, and Nils could feel the pressure lift. As they reached the trapdoor, Nils reached for it, but Janice smacked his hand away.

"What are you doing?!"

"What? I was just going to open it."

"No, for exiting, you still have to do the knock."

Nils looked at her with a blank expression.

"The knock...Huhh! Let me do it!"

Janice got closer, and knocked on the door in a familiar pattern, with the same familiar sounds. They then heard a man from far away yell, "Clear!", then opened the door, allowing the outside sounds and the blast of fresh air to hit them. Nils took a deep breath of the pristine air, and smelled what there was to smell. Fresh grass, pine trees, sweet flowers...no more of that rugged dirt smell they've been smelling for days...nine, to be exact.

Nils looked around the expanse of trees, the warm sun hitting his face, the sound of a brooklet nearby...wait, that's...water.

Nils followed the sound, but Janice grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "Where are you going? We're here to catch pokemon, not look at a stream."

"But...there are pokemon at streams," he fought weakly, because he knew he had already lost.

"No excuse, let's go catch pokemon."

Nils sighed in defeat, and they both made their way towards a good place to find grass pokemon. They made it, and Nils looked around. It was just a bunch of tall grass..._But, _he thought, _that would be where they like to hide. They are grass pokemon, after all._

Nils walked into the grass for pokemon, looking, on the prowl, wanting to show off to Janice, but knowing she could show him up. He saw a pokemon, an Oddish, from the looks of it, and released Vapor.

"Vapor, tackle it!"

Vapor immediately started dashing for it, and when the Oddish turned around, it was immediately impacted. It fell down, and looked dazed.

Nils took this opportunity to throw a pokeball at it. It hit the poor Oddish, opened up, and sucked in the pokemon with a reddish haze. The pokeball moved around a bit, but made a sonar sound, signifying it had caught a pokemon.

Nils tucked in an elbow and thrust a fist into the air, saying, "Yeah! That's one pokemon down! Now to catch nine more."

Janice intervened, then said, "Nope."

"What?"

"We're done here. One pokemon a day."

...

Nils undoubtedly had a confused look on his face, then Janice said, "I just wanted to spend more time with you, and doing things like this...ehh-" She cut herself off mid sentence, and blushed a bit. "Ummm...nevermind what I just said, I just think that, uhh, we should take it a bit easy. It _is _your first pokemon, after all."

"No, it's my second."

"Regardless, we're done for today. Let's go home."

And with that, they were already on their way home. _Why did she get so flustered? Why does she want to catch only one pokemon a day? I better ask Sam._

They entered the base, and Janice said, "I had fun today, thank you for taking me up there." She then gave Nils a sweet smile, then dashed off for the dorms.

Nils watched her get out of sight, then headed for the medical station. When he entered, Sam said, "So, how vas eet?"

"I think it went pretty well. We definitely had time to catch more pokemon, or even train the one I _had _caught."

"I know! Yoo guys deedn't stay up there very long." A mischievous look entered her eyes. "Deed something happen between yoo two?"

Nils ignored the look, then said, "Yeah, I think."

Sam didn't expect this response, then asked what happened.

Nils told her the entire story, about going to the surface, catching Oddish, which he showed off and then realized he needed to heal, and then Janice and what she said.

"Yoo know what I think...She likes yoo!"

"What? No, she doesn't!" The thought of a girl liking him was weird...not in a good way.

"Yes, eet's definitely confirmed. Janeece likes Neels."

Nils stared at her blankly. He didn't know what to do now that a girl actually liked him. What is he going to do, bring her flowers? Stroke her hair, or-

"Don't take eet so seeriouslee! I vas jus' keeding. You're so cyoote when you're flustered!"

That statement deflated him. He didn't think that Sam would be so cruel. But...there still is a possibility that Janice liked him...but he shouldn't even be thinking that right now! There is a war going on, even if it's not a battle on the field, it's a battle of preperation.

Nils took a deep breath, then said ina very sarcastic tone, "Well, Sam, thanks for teasing me again. I will probably never recover from this one. You know exactly where to hit me in the heart. I'll go wallow in shame and despair."

"Don't forget to taike beetter malice with you."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot, let me start again," he said slowly. "I'll go wallow in shame, despair and bitter malice, resentment towards you. There is no way to gain my forgiveness."

"I'm sorry, Neels." She looked mock-sad, and started pouting.

"Okay, you have my forgiveness." And at that, they both had a good laugh, then Nils went to go sleep. Tomorrow, Janice was probably going to make him walk for forever. Time to prepare for it.

Felix landed on the earth of Yoma, the Yomish-speaking providence. He hadn't been here for at least a third of the year, so his sense of direction in this area was rusty.

"Steelwing, return," he whispered to his companion. He opened his pokeball, and his Pidgeot was enveloped in a red mist, and entered the pokeball. _Now, _he thought to himself, _to find my way back to the base stationed here._

Felix studied the area, and noticed a couple things had changed. For one, many shops and stores had closed down, boarded up, disappeared. What was left of actual persons was slim, and that amount made this part seem like the ghetto side.

He entered the streets, no gate or wall for this city, and a man approached him, speaking Yomish. "Le bou mine line stin mo Felix! Mi ni ni lo sa coran!"

Felix was lost, but that's because he was unprepared to speak Yomish. He re-tooled his mind, and asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you said, could you say it again?"

"You are the one and only Felix! Come to save us!"

"No, you must have mistaken, I am no such man, I'm just through passing. I am terribly sorry to have inconvenienced you such manner."

He still had some grammatical issues in speech.

The man deflated a bit, then said, "You look just like him," then walked away.

If everybody immediately recognized him like that, he would have a terrible time making it to the outpost. He would have to make it there quick.


	5. Life Stories

Felix entered the Yomish compound. He was immediately welcomed, greeted, and fed. Some newbies, whom had never before seen the leader of the resistance, stood with gaping mouths; those who had seen him, on the other hand, seemed confident and smug that they had seen him, which was directed to the younger members. No matter their reactions, they warmly accepted his presence.

"Listen." This command silenced the crowd. "You brought me here to do one important thing. It is to bring in new members from other countries to help with our revolution. Don't offend them, do ask them questions, and just be nice to them. No matter where they come from." Felix stared intently at a few individuals. Everybody had a look of determination on their face. "Let's go."

And with that, Felix headed for the other end of the station. In contrast to his headquarters, this base was located above ground in a building on the edge of Yoma.

Yoma was located right on the border of the country.

Felix stepped out onto a balcony, surveying the border. The border was about two kilometers away. From this distance, Felix could see the wall that encompassed the country, the surplus of citizens that clamored to leave, and the guards, ignoring all that was being said at them. Felix's mind was racing to think of a way that he could smuggle foreign trainers to this side without being noticed. Flying Pokèmon wouldn't do, but what about...

"Matt. What kind of Pokèmon do you have?"

"What?"

"Tell me what kind of Pokèmon you have? Do you have any ground type?"

"Well...yeah, I'm sure somebody around here has to have a ground type."

"Take me to your Pokèmon reserves."

Matt seemed a bit confused, until he put the pieces together. They walked back inside, then Matt announced, "Everybody with ground type Pokèmon, please come forward."

Four men and two women came forward.

...More than he could have hoped for.

"Lets get to work."

They walked to the basement. Felix found a spot that could be broken into, then he asked the six to command their ground Pokèmon to start digging. Seventeen Pokèmon emerged, then they were all digging downwards, in a spiral. When Felix felt like they were low enough, they started to dig horizontally, towards the border.

_We'll have you across soon enough. Wait for me, Lilith.  
_

* * *

Nils had caught five Pokèmon by now: an Oddish, the first, a Butterfree, a Gardevoir, a Makuhita, and a Rapidash, being his newest addition, freshly caught. Ordinary Pokèmon trainers would only be able to have the amount he has. Thankfully, he wasn't an ordinary Pokèmon trainer. He was a Trainer, professional Pokèmon master!

...Nils liked the ring of that.

"Janice, should I ride Rapidash back?"

"No. For one, it's injured, and two, we're walking anyways."

"Janice, why would you be so cruel to me?"

"Oh, don't play the 'poor me' card." She seemed unusually rude today.

"Janice...nevermind." He could tell, he hoped.

"Alright, well, lets get back."

They started walking, Nils being led by Janice. Today, she was going to make him do everything to get back into the base. He was not looking forward to this.

"Janice."

"What?"

"Where did you grow up."

"Why do you want to know that?"

"Because..." Nils didn't think about this question. "I think it will help me understand you."

That seemed to do the trick, though, because Janice began, "Ok, I grew up in Slidden. It was...different than this place. It was a small town nestled in between two mountain ranges, so people didn't know anybody besides their neighbors. I didn't have any brothers or sisters, but I had a best friend, and we would always dream of going on Pokèmon adventures together. We imagined ourselves as the two best in the world, who were having duels all the time. We always had so much fun." She had a distant, cloudy look in her eyes. Her beautiful, deep blue eyes.

"Then, one day, she...moved away. I didn't know where she went or why she went, but she was gone the next day. People said that her dad was affiliated with gangs and Pokèmon trafficking. Looking back...That might have not been so far off. He was always a shady person, never let me spend the night at her house, but she could always spend the night at mine. He had a hint of something in his eyes. I couldn't tell what it was, but now I think that he had gone a bit crazy, or that he was crazy at one point.

"I grew up, trying my best to become one of the two gratest Pokèmon trainers in the world; I knew she would become the other. I tried and tried and tried, studying Pokèmon and how they all were connected. I had become the best in Slidden, so the boys would stop dueling with me. Even if I was at a disadvantage, I could beat anybody.

"I realized I needed to leave, expand my horizons. I had only known mountains for my whole life. I was sixteen when I left home. My father was so proud of me to realize my dream, but my mom was a bit disappointed that I wanted to become a trainer when I could have become a doctor or a lawyer. She supported me wholeheartedly, however, and I left. I didn't care where I was going, or what dangers would be out there; with the help of my Pokèmon, I would overcome all adversity...or, so I thought."

She lifted up the right sleeve of her shirt, and exposed a scar on her shoulder. It ran down her side, and was hidden by the rest of her shirt. "I got this when I was attacked by a Scyther. He also got my legs, and my Pikachu chased him away. I was all alone. I didn't have any flying Pokèmon, I only had a Pikachu. That's why I don't do well around Scyther. I didn't have anybody to depend on, I yelled and yelled for help. For three days, I was stuck in the forest. I thought I would die out there. Then a helpful man came along. He carried me to a hospital, payed the charge, and stayed to make sure I was ok. He stayed to make sure I was completely healed, then he waved goodbye, and left.

"I didn't have anybody to look to, I didn't have anybody to depend on, so I asked him if I could accompany him on his travels. He agreed, but he didn't seem all that thrilled about it. We told people that he was just my bodyguard. He had the clothes to fit the description, so people didn't question it. He didn't tell me his name for a while, so I didn't know it."

"Who was it?"

"It was Felix." Nils didn't expect her to say that name. "He was so...attractive to me at the time. However, he told me that if I was attracted to him, I should forget it. He already had a love. I don't know if he still has one to this day, I've never seen her. Aside from that, he's been more of a brother to me. I've been back home on a number of occasions to see my parents and childhood friends. Ever since that one day, I've always had an older brother. We traveled, and he helped me to become better, how to catch Pokèmon easier, and how to read into my opponent.

"I thought that I could never be as good as him, but he said that he felt the same way when he had a mentor. Now, he says, I'm catching up to him, and I think I could have beaten him, if I had a month or two more dedicated solely to practice.

"The moment the government started becoming corrupt, Felix could tell, and started up a small resistance force just in case. There were many resistance forces, but they were all killed; we are the last one remaining. They know of us, but we are so far spread apart that they could not hope to completely eradicate the Trainers. That, and we are so good at hiding. We are constantly bringing in 'mercenaries', or just other Pokèmon trainers that want to help us in our cause."

Nils still didn't understand how the government worked still, he comes from a different country who also spoke English, so he asked.

"Well, first, on the bottom of the pyramid, there's citizens, the most common kind of person. Above them, are the middle-class, who are slightly richer, and almost non-existent now. Above that, there are Masters, high ranking, almost like a Senate from your country. The top of the pyramid is held by five individuals. These men are called Superiors. The reason the system is so simple is because they want it to be simple. It works with them and their greedy schemes. If a law is to be passed, at least three of the five Superiors must pass the law. Then, at least five-hundred-and-one Masters must also pass the same law. If it is passed, the law is in immediate effect, and enforced. They like it like this so they can milk the poor of all their money; they don't even have enough money to flee the country.

"We are going to revolt and change the government. The government will not be easy to pervert!" She had a fire in her eyes. "With your help, and Marcus'es help, and Sam's help, and everybody else's help, we will be victorious!"

Nils became fired up from her speech, and he felt empowered. He could do this! They could all do this!

"Alright, now do the sequence."

Nils sighed. He wasn't getting out of it at all.

"So, do you know where his scar came from?" Nils asked.

"No, he's never told me."

"And what about his eyes? Has he ever taken his shades off in front of you?"

"No, he never has."

This brought Nils to thinking...What did Felix's eyes look like? Where did he get his scar? Does he have any super-close friends? Where did he come from? He would have to ask some people around. He would see if Marcus knew anything first.

* * *

Felix was watching the few people pass through the newly dug tunnel. He couldn't allow just anybody to pass, only the people he knew personally. Even though there was only a few, he had to keep himself from talking to Lilith, or even noticing her.

Lilith...the name resonated so well in his mind. He could see her so well. Her black hair was pullud back in a loose ponytail, the way he always liked it. She wore a black pair of boots, which had white laces. Her pants were a sand-colored pair of cargo pants. Her shirt was white, which was coverd by a white hoodie, splashed with red "Revolt!" designs. Her face was the face of an angel. Her chin was well-defined. Her pug-nose was formed perfectly and was strattled, oh, so dearly by beautiful green eyes.

Despite wanting to hug and hold her, he had to quickly make his escape with his new band of misfits. He asked the Trainers to dig back up their tunnel, and to make sure that the dirt looked as if nothing had happened. He led them along, having a Charmander lead the way, for the light. He hurried them along, so he could make it back to Supinion City. He had to tell Nils something very important. The traverse towards the Yoma base was only about four kilometers long, but it felt like that trip took five hours to complete. In reality, it took three hours to dig, and one hour to walk back. The tunnel opened up a bit, the spot the Trainers let their Pokèmon take a rest, and a man stood in the middle of the room.

He had on red sneakers, red and white bell-bottom pants, a red button-up shirt, which the top button wasn't buttoned up, and a swirling, twirling red necklace. His face was pale white, with the exception of a flame stream going across his right cheek. His eyes were covered up by a pair of red-tinted shades, supported by a strong, roman nose. His ginger-red hair was done in cornrows, pulled tight to his scalp. He stood like he didn't like what he saw.

"And what is this, might I ask?" he asked.

"Bolero, Flame superior, in charge of six major cities in the country, two major counties and a natural power source company. Suspected of nothing, however, not innocent of nothing."

After Felix had finished, Bolero smiled, and said, "You are good. Almost as good as Zack made you out to be. You don't seem all that threatening."

"Duel me and see. If I win, you leave. If you win, you can kill me right here, on the spot."

"What if I don't want to kill you?"

"What other purpose would you have come in here for, then?"

Bolero mulled over this last question, then stated, "Good point. I accept. The bill stops here. No tourists will get through without paying."

So they still think he runs an illegal tourist business. He wasn't known for his smarts.

Felix threw a couple Pokèballs into the air, and shouted, "Poliwrath, Alakazam, come forth!"

Bolero did the same, but shouted, "Arcanine, Flareon, rise!"

What appeared on the scene were four Pokèmon, staring each other down in pairs.

"Poliwrath! Bubble beam! Alakazam! Psycho cut!"

"Arcanine! Fire blast! Flareon! Lava plume!"

All four Pokèmon reacted immediately, filling the small area with bubbles, psychic blades, flames and more flames. All three Pokèmon were able to dodge Flareon's attack, and both of Felix's Pokèmon were able to dodge Arcanine's attack. Bolero's Pokèmon weren't so lucky with the bubbles, however. Alakazam's attack went unnoticed, as planned.

"Alakazam! Use psybeam!"

Alakazam's aim was as true as ever. He impacted the Arcanine, which was flung backwards, and slammed into the wall. When it got up, it had a slight dazed look in it's eyes, and it swayed a bit. Bolero didn't notice.

"Arcanine! Fire fang! Flareon! Fire spin!"

Arcanine looked around the arena, then charged at Flareon, who was getting ready to perform a fire spin.

"Poliwrath! Use water gun on Flareon! Alakazam! Use psychic on Arcanine!"

Poliwrath stopped Flareon with a surge of water, who was then bitten by Arcanine. The amount of pain was too much for Flareon, who passed out, and Arcanine was flung backwards by an invisible force. Arcanine got up, and shook the confusion off, eyeing out its true prey.

"Arcanine! Extreme speed!"

Arcanine turned into a blur of red and white as it whipped around Poliwrath. Felix feared this, but was not unprepared for it.

"Alakazam! Reflect!"

Alakazam managed to barely erect the psychic wall in time to soften the blow of the Arcanine. This, however, didn't seem to be as effective as he hoped, as Poliwrath doubled over in pain.

"Arcanine, do it again!"

"Alakazam! Disable!"

Alakazam stared intently at Arcanine, who fell over right before impacting him.

"Now use Psycho cut!"

The last move of the match was a telekinetic slash across Arcanine's middle, thus immobilizing him. Bolero roared in fury, and recalled his Pokèmon.

"This isn't the last of us. Just you watch!"

And with that, Bolero left the room.

Felix stood there, waiting for there to be others, but Bolero was alone.

"Did everybody see that? I hope you learned something." Felix retracted his Pokèmon.

"Let's go. I need to teach you about flying Pokèmon. It's very important."

* * *

"Marcus!"

Marcus turned to see Nils. "Oh, hey Nils, I didn't see you there."

"It's fine. I just wanted to ask a couple questions."

"Oh, sure, ask away."

"Ok...Do you know Felix?" Nils hesitated to ask him.

"As a matter of fact, I do." He said that pretty quickly.

"Then...could you tell me about him?"

Marcus stared at Nils for a bit, unsure of wether he wanted to tell him or not. "I'll tell you one story."

Nils got excited, and started bouncing in place, like a little kid would do at storytime. His eyes sparkled with excitement, and Marcus looked at him. "I suggest we go find somewhere to sit, though. It's a pretty long story, and I don't want your legs to give out from under you."


	6. What's in the Air

Marcus looked a bit distant and sad. He seemed to have some trouble remembering the past that he and Felix had been through. He collected his words, and he kept thinking about what really happened in his mind.

"Well, Felix and I have been friends since...well, basically since we were born. We were born on the same day, at the same time, in the same place. We didn't have much of an interest in Pokémon in our youth. We believed we were rising to higher standards; we wanted to become doctors. At the time, we swore we would refuse to treat or interact with Pokémon in any way. Heh, things did not go according to plan.

"First, the school we wanted to attend, the Higher Medical Studies, wouldn't allow us to join without at least some Pokémon interaction, regardless of our intended studies. We complained and petitioned, but they were more stubborn than we were. We finally folded, and decided to earn a couple gym badges. We-"

"Sorry if I'm intruding," Nils interrupted, "but how old are you two?"

"We are quite a lot older than you, let's just leave it at that."

Nils shut his mouth and blushed, a bit ashamed for asking.

"So, where was I? Oh, yeah. We got a couple starters, trained and rose above other beginners quickly. I found it to be fun, and was confused why I didn't do this before. I think Felix found it fun, too, but he didn't want to admit it, and went on hating it. We got some badges, four between the both of us, and Felix was done. He didn't want anything else to do with Pokémon, and went to Higher Medical Studies to show he could enter now. They accepted him, and I continued to get badges. I loved the thrill of Pokémon dueling! However, no matter how dedicated I was to dueling, Felix was still far above me, even though he hated it.

"I spoke to him, tried to convince him to take up Pokémon dueling. He flat-out rejected the idea, but then I think I planted a seed in his mind when I told him we could have our own gym. Usually, Pokémon trainers took years to get to the point they could just blaze through two gyms so quickly. He 'considered it', and I continued on, training and dueling for badges. After a while, Felix caught up to me, with just as much badges as me, and joined me in our idea of starting a gym together. We had no idea what type of a gym we should start. We threw a couple ideas out there, like water, dragon, electric, mixed...but eventually, we ended on one: flying. We were both fascinated by the idea of flight, the idea of falling without descent, the idea of...freedom."

Nils was caught off-guard by the use of the word freedom. "Why do you call it freedom?"

"Because there was no limitations to flight; you could fly anywhere you wanted. If a fence was fifteen meters tall, just fly over it. There are two ways to get around a wall: over and under. A wall could only hinder you so much.

"Anyways, we settled on flying, and we immediately went into plans for the layout of the gym. We figured the last room was going to be the roof, so that he could let his Pokémon fly around."

Marcus then got a glint of...something in his eye, like he just remembered he had something in the oven, and now his house was on fire...Okay, maybe a bit too extreme, but it was a bad thing to see.

"We neared the end of our gym completion, when a man came along, seemingly crazy. I thought he was crazy, anyways, but Felix didn't. The man spoke of...some future calamity. I didn't really understand him, he spoke in a lot of gibberish. Felix calmed him, and he started telling us what happened to him. Apparently, the man had seen Celebi, and it told him that there was a dark and terrible thing to happen soon. The Celebi didn't tell him what, how long until, or where, just that it was going to happen.

"The man took a long look at Felix, pulled his ear to his mouth, and he said, 'You're the one. You are the one who will...will...wi...' The message was spoken, I didn't hear it, and the man died. To this day, I still don't know what the man said to Felix. Felix was...well, he was more, I guess, mature, sobered...just a little bit dead on the outside. Of course, if you knew how, he could become the same person he was way back then. The message the man gave Felix caused him to become a very inwards person."

Marcus seemed to be done telling his story. His last statement

"Sooo...how did you get your...ummm..."

Marcus looked at him a bit confused, then he remembered, "Oh, right! We were riding a bicycle along a city road, then we crashed. He was flung into the ripped tailgate of a parked car, and I fell into traffic, where a car ran over my ankle."

That was very normal for what Nils expected. He expected...well, not that. Something like being attacked by Masters or being heroes at a bank hold-up, being injured in the process. Not something as common as a bike crash!

"It adds for effect, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but I didn't expect something as simple as that."

"I'm sorry, but that's how it happened."

Nils sighed. "Well, I better get to bed. I've got some Pokémon to catch tomorrow."

Almost as soon as he had finished this statement, Felix burst into the dormitories, and shouted, "It will happen soon!" and woke up everybody who was sleeping or trying to get some sleep.

Marcus seemed as if he had been waiting for Felix to burst through, and asked, "Are you sure?"

"I was confronted by Bolero. He should know by now that we aren't running an illegal tourist service."

Marcus looked stupified. "He still thought that? How long has it been? Wouldn't he have talked to the-"

"No time for questions now, Marcus! We have got to start preparing. First, plans for saving all the imprisoned Pokémon! Second, how to deal with the sheer amount of Masters and Superiors! Third, collecting all our forces and centralizing them in this forest! Fourth, educating them about-"

"Excuse me," both Marcus and Felix turned to Nils, "but who is that?" Nils asked, referring to the woman behind Felix.

They both seemed to be utterly confused, until she nudged Felix and said, "Umm, I think he means me."

Felix, hit with sudden realization that Nils and...Blah-blah hadn't met, he finally introduced them. "Nils, this is Lilith, the love of my life. Lilith, this is Nils, the one I've been telling you about."

"Oooh, so you're Nils." She approached Nils. "You're a bit different than Felix described you. A more...auburn color of hair than brown, isn't it? I guess you wouldn't be able to tell, you always wear shades," she said off-handedly to Felix, as she playfully grabbed his glasses, like she was going to take them off, but he made no move to stop her. Maybe he knew she wouldn't do it.

Lilith was a bit taller than Nils, but still shorter than Felix by about a head. Her hair was coal-black, straight and ended in ringlets. Her clothing was less than fancy...by about a mile. She wore loose jeans, a bit of an over-sized shirt, and had her Pokéball trinket pierced to her right ear. For her face, they were a bit small, but not something one would usually notice if they didn't look hard enough. Her chin was well-defined, and her mouth was a bit small. Her nose was a perfect-fitting roman nose, and her eyes were a sweet shade of brown. Almost like chocolate. She moved with fluid grace, and wore all her features flawlessly. Nils could only think of one more flawless than her.

"Now that introductions are taken care of," Felix began again, "we need to educate our forces about their tactics and Pokémon. Fifth, deciding who will send these messages. This is the most delicate part. We can't send these messages over even our own network now. It's not safe. We must send handwritten messages to all the stations. I can only send three people here. Seth, Jacob," Nils didn't want the last one to be a certain person, "and (_EEEHHH!) _Janice."

Nils felt a gripping at his chest. He didn't know what he felt, but he looked at Janice, who looked the same way. And who looked at Nils.

They shared an intimate moment with that three meter distance between them, like they were being seperated for a good...no, a bad three years...even though it was going to be a few days.

"Umm...Janice is-"

"I'll take over your training."

That answer was so quickly delivered, he thought it was prepared.

"Okay." _Okay? OKAY?! Is that all you can say? You're not going to fight for her? She could die! You're just going to let her go into unknown places_- his thoughts were cut short by Marcus announcing, "Okay, everybody, tomorrows a big day, so get some sleep. I will wake you messengers up early."

And with that, everybody went to sleep, leaving Nils alone to beat himself up over the seperation he had no control over.

* * *

Nils was walking along a cliff, with a forest on one side and a glacier on the other. He looked out on the horizon of ice that consumed the ocean. Lightning storms were brewing in the distance. As he looked around, Pokémon of all types were running away from the ocean. Nils thought he should be running, too, but felt no sense of danger. Felix approached, and said, "Nils, I need to say something. I know that you are feeling tormented. I know what the feeling of separation feels like. Trust me, I saw the love of my life today after four years of being apart. This is only going to be for two days. She will be fine."

For some odd reason, Nils found comfort in these words.

He looked at the sky, which was a splash of every color imaginable, the most dominant one being Janice's beautiful eye-shade of blue. The trees were huge, too big for a regular forest. The glaciers seemed to be alive as he looked at them, and they changed their shapes into something more "cool", then changed into something else.

Nils felt alone.

Then, a soothing voice called out to him. "Nils!" It was more of an urgent whisper. He looked around and saw nothing. The earth shook a bit, but quickly stopped. "Nils!" the whisper started again, somehow sounding more urgent. Now, the world shook more, sinking some glaciers that surfaced again, and crumbling cliffs. Over time, the quakes became so violent, it ripped his world in half. As he looked around to figure out what was going on, he came face-to-face with Janice.

As he looked at her, the world around them slowly faded into the dirt walls and musty interior of their dormitories. It was all a dream.

"Nils, finally. I need to talk to you."

Before Nils could say anything, she quickly and quietly pulled him into the hallway.

"Nils..." She looked at him, and she seemed sad.

"What is it?" he asked, unsure of what to say.

"Nils, I..." She couldn't seem to say the right words. "I...I..."

That's all that Nils needed to hear, and he embraced her. He wrapped her in his arms, and she melted into his chest, as her arms encircled him, too.

"Don't worry about saying it," Nils reassured her, although he wanted to hear her say it as much as she wanted to say it.

"But I have to. It's hurting me not saying it." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

That got Nils to be quiet, and allow her to say what she felt like she desperately needed to say.

"I...I...I love you."

Nils was so relieved, and he started to silently cry into her hair. He could feel her tears on his chest. "I...love you...too..."

Her cheek muscles tightened on his chest, and he could tell she was smiling. Funny, she seemed a lot shorter than before.

She pulled her head away, and looked at Nils, who also looked back. Her eyes were glistening, they were so beautiful. Her face was as beautiful as it was tearstained.

They looked into each others eyes for who knows how long, then, for some unknown reason, they kissed. Her breath tasted like what clouds tasted like...if they were made of cotton candy; strawberry, to be exact. The duo made the most of this kiss, especially Nils; it was his first. After seperating, they both smiled like idiots, and she whispered, "Sorry, that was my first time. I understand if it's-"

"It was my first time, too."

The look on her face told him she was surprised, but happy that they had just shared their first kisses with each other.

"I think we had better get back to bed," Nils offered. "We have a big day tomorrow."

"Yeah. See ya tomorrow," she said with a smile.

Nils smiled back, and they both tiptoed back into the dormitories.

* * *

Felix was reminded of the first time he had experienced such joy in his life. It happened much the same way, if not the same location or setting. The only difference: it was him and Lilith.

Felix was a silent witness to the love shared between the young couple who professed their love and had a sweet kiss in the wallway; he was hidden behind a jutting mound of dirt in the wall. The way they awkwardly leaned in, the way they were so happy, and the way they both shared such strong feelings for each other.

After he was being happy for the young couple, he was instantly reminded of the separation that was orchestrated by his hand. On purpose, of course. Nils needed to have no distractions for the next five days. He was well aware that he had told Nils two, but he needed to find trust and faith in his new significant other. He used a psychic insertion: the act of placing yourself, among other things, inside someone's dreams, an act he rarely used. Over his lifespan, he reasoned, he used it only three times, both the other times with Marcus. The first was experimental, which resulted in a land of desolation in Marcus's conscious, the area of insanity. This was an area that was closely guarded. The next time was successful. He never forgot how to do it again, out of fear and respect for Marcus. If Felix were to explain it, it would be using lucid dreaming in someone else's dreams; inserting your mind into theirs. This wasn't quite right, however. He was still working on a way to describe it.

_Tomorrow is training the Trainers, _Felix thought.


	7. Needed Comfort

"Ha! Another Pokémon caught!"

Nils seemed triumphant. This outward appearance didn't hide his nervousness about Janice, however. It's been four days, now. Nils would appear a terrible train wreck to those who didn't know him, but Nils was handling it pretty well. Nils didn't know it himself, but Felix was teaching him to become more dependent on others.

Today, they were at a lake in the middle of the forest, a prime location for water Pokémon and flying Pokémon. Felix looked out over the smooth waters of the lake. He searched for fish and other Pokémon that they could catch. They would need water Pokémon to protect themselves against the Superiors' fire Pokémon.

"What do you see?"

"Nothing, at the mome-" Felix was interrupted by a flurry of splashing water, and immediately released his Pidgeot. "Pull that fish out of the water!"

Pidgeot bolted for the splashing of water, and flew straight into it. When he came out, he had a Magikarp clasped in his talons. Pidgeot carried it over to the lakeside, and placed it on the grass, where Magikarp flopped around for a bit.

"Go on, capture it."

"Alright! Makuhita, come forth!"

As he said that, he released the Pokéball containing Makuhita, and it appeared on the grass near Magikarp.

"We're gonna evolve it into a Gyrados, huh?"

"Yes, now please catch it."

Nils didn't need any more encouragement. Nils seemed more ecstatic than other Pokémon he caught, Felix noticed.

"Makuhita, arm thrust!"

Makuhita threw multiple punches at the fish on the grass, who had no possible way to defend itself. Magikarp started to flop around less, and seemed pretty injured.

Nils made a big show of victoriously capturing the Pokémon. It made no real difference, except it was flashier. The Pokémon was caught, and Felix knew just where to find a water stone in the compound.

"Alright!"

"Nils. Prepare your water Pokémon."

"What? My-"

"Just do it!"

After a couple of minutes, two women appeared on the scene. One was dressed in a blue dress that seemed to be made up of ruffles that were laced with white, had platinum blonde hair, and light blue eyes, and the other had a green pencil skirt on and a green dress shirt, dark brown hair, and green eyes. Water and Grass.

"Excuse me, Felix, but do you know who we are?" the one dressed in green asked, in pure vanity.

"We would love for you to tell us all about ourselves," the one in blue said, teasingly.

Nils inched closer to Felix, and asked, "Who are they?"

"Your next opponents," Felix stated sharply.

"You," Felix said at the one dressed in blue, "Aquis, Water Superior, in charge of all major plumbing and sewage and coastal cities. Suspected of nothing, yet charges much too much for water bills.

"You," he said to the other, "Flora, Grass Superior, in charge of all national parks and organic food production factories. Suspected of nothing, and charging much too much for food and using too much tax money for national parks."

The girls seemed mock-impressed, and announced, "Oh, no! He knows all our secrets, Aquis!" "No! What ever shall we do?" "We are uncovered!" and kept moaning about their crummy status.

"What do you want with us?"

The women immediately stopped their mock-self pity session, and stood with a more elegant air. They stared Felix down, and said, "We are here to eradicate the Trainers."

"Indeed, we cannot have you ruining our fun, now can we?"

"Fools!" Felix yelled so loud, birds started flying away. His very stature was tense, but his voice, if only that, calmed a bit. "Do you realize if I don't ruin your fun, then someone else will?! You shall not go on to exploit the lower classes!"

The girls seemed to be uninterested by Felix's announcement. In fact, they didn't even jump at Felix yelling at them.

"Oh?" Flora was starting to become annoyed. "If not you, then whom?"

Felix matched her stare with a stare of his own, then simply stated, "Nils." Nils became very surprised at his name being said so calmly. At the mere mention of his own name.

"That kid? He couldn't do a single thing. Just a common stowaway running from his own home."

Nils began to retract from the world, and Aquis realized she had just struck a sensitive issue with Nils. Before she could punctuate on the subject, Felix distracted her with a proposal of his own. "Duel us."

"I'm sorry? You want us to duel you?"

"Yes. Me and Nils."

Nils was pulled back from his past, and was now in the moment; he needed to fight for Felix. He didn't know how or why he was wound in this predicament, but he needed to prove to Felix that he could hold his own against another trainer. Another trainer who wouldn't hold back.

Felix knew this would happen eventually. The two remaining before the boss of the Superiors would have been bothered to show himself. The other two were useless, Felix knew him so well. They wouldn't do, even if they were together. He sent the two others before he would gather them all up to crush the entirety of the Trainers. If the leader was eliminated, that would be the end of the Trainers, and they could go on with their lives, peacefully draining the money and riches of the poor and penniless.

"Oh, so that's Nils. He does seem a bit weak, but I guess it's the Pokémon that fight, isn't it?"

Nils eyes narrowed as Flora spoke the words.

"I will fight Flora while Nils will fight Aquis."

Aquis mulled over her prey. She had no idea what Nils was capable of.

"Agreed," they spoke in unison.

Felix took a sidelong glance at Nils, who returned the look. Felix knew he brought a good amount of water Pokémon, and Felix took some extra grass-type Pokémon, so he could decide who would go with Steelwing.

The two women threw out their Pokéballs, finding it unnecessary to actually call out their Pokémons' names. Four Pokémon appeared on the other side of the small clearing by the lake: a Vaporeon, a Feraligatr, a Meganium, and a Victreebel.

Nils threw out two Pokémon, and shouted, "Vaporeon! Cloyster!" and they emerged on the spot.

Felix threw his Pokéballs forth, and yelled, "Scyther! Pidgeot!"

"No fair!" yelled Flora. "You can't use flying!"

"Nobody ever specified we had to use certain types."

Flora was furious, but fought anyways.

"Victreebel! Vine whip! Meganium! Razor leaf!"

"Pidgeot, air slash! Scyther, fury cutter!"

The Pokémon leapt into action, and Felix could only hope that Nils was doing alright.

* * *

Nils was waiting for Aquis to make the first move, and she was waiting for him to do the same. After a while, Nils yelled, "Vaporeon! Jump in the lake! Cloyster, aurora beam!"

"Vaporeon, after his! Feraligatr, bite the Cloyster!"

Both Vaporeon jumped into the water, and became camouflaged and elusive, where neither could find the other easily. Cloyster hit the Feraligatr with pinpoint accuracy, but it charged it, seemingly unaware that it was being impacted at all. It finally reached it's opponent, and bit down hard on it's shell, where no damage happened at all, it seemed.

"Cloyster! Spike cannon!"

"Feraligatr, get away!"

It was too late for the Pokémon, and it was stuck in the mouth by multiple spikes of Cloyster's. That only seemed to anger it more, and it began to ignore its trainer in its rage. It began to thrash and pummel the Cloyster.

"Cloyster! Shoot your aurora beam into its mouth! Right now!"

Cloyster, amid its pummeling, started to begin it's attack. The Feraligatr was violent and weak, and this could be the end of its battle, but it could also be the end of Cloyster's battle.

Cloyster shot a beam directly into the Pokémon's gaping mouth, and it keeled over, unconscious. However, it used up all its strength, and fell over, also unconscious.

"Vaporeon!" Aquis yelled. "Use a water pulse!"

"Vaporeon! Use surf!"

Aquis's Vaporeon's attack was cut short by the large movement of water. Vapor was starting up a wave, and caught the other Vaporeon in it. Both Pokémon were exposed now, and both attacked each other fiercely.

"Vapor! Use hydro pump!"

"Vaporeon! Do a quick attack!"

Aquis's Vaporeon swam as fast as it could, but it couldn't make it to Vapor on time; no matter how fast it could swim, Vapor had enough water to start his attack immediately. As her Vaporeon dashed in for the final blow, it received one right to the face. It was blasted away, and was knocked unconscious. It floated in the water.

"Vaporeon! Feraligatr! Return!" Aquis yelled in anger, no concern for her Pokémon in the slightest.

Her face was twisted in rage, rage at Nils for beating her. She couldn't stand to look at him, so she watched the other fight happening not five meters away. She was humiliated in front of her companion.

Nils turned to look after Vapor stepped up beside him, and as he turned, Pidgeot unleashed a deadly twister on the Victreebel, as it also attacked with a leaf blade. Both turned out to hit, and Victreebel was knocked unconscious. Pidgeot, however, was hit harder than Flora's Pokémon. It fell to the ground, with a gaping wound in it's side, and blood ran down to the grass.

"Steelwing!" Felix yelled in pain.

He ran over to the collapsed Pokémon, while Flora pulled out another Pokémon, and yelled, "Ivysaur! Razor leaf!"

"Vapor! Water gun!"

The flow of water was enough to stop the leaves and hit Ivysaur.

Their fight was a tie, while Nils's fight was a win for him.

"You've lost. Beat it," Nils said, with more conviction than he ever could have said under normal circumstances.

Flora glared at him, then turned and walked off, Aquis close behind her.

Nils waited until they were gone, then ran over to see if he could help Felix.

The situation seemed hopeless: Pidgeot had a deep cut in its side, and didn't seem to be doing well. It's breath was shallow and weak. Felix started to shake and jerk as if he were crying.

Nils remembered, _Rapidash! _He pulled out a Pokéball, and threw it out, producing a Rapidash.

"Climb on! We need to get back!"

Felix looked around, nodded, and got on the Pokémon. They all rushed back to the compound.

* * *

Felix's world was crumbling. Steelwing's health was failing, and the jittering ride wasn't helping. He tried his best to soften it for his greatest Pokémon friend. Probably his greatest friend ever.

Steelwing looked into his eyes, and they were filled with heart-wrenching pain. Felix didn't want to look anymore, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Not when he was in this great of pain. Felix didn't think that Steelwing would make it back, and even if he did, he wouldn't live to see tomorrow.

The light in Steelwing's eyes was dimming, and Felix knew his time was coming to an end.

The moment brought him back to when Felix found him as a Pidgey, struggling for life beside the road before he reached his school. The first Pokémon he ever befriended.

It looked so helpless as it tried to jump away with its broken wing. Felix didn't have any feelings for any Pokémon before that point. This was, of course, before he knew he needed to get two badges to enter the Higher Medical Studies. Felix looked upon the poor bird, and Marcus asked him, "Are you really looking at a Pokémon? That's not our thing, remember? We are doctors, not trainers!"

"I know, but...look at it. If we are going to be doctors, let's start right now! Let's help that bird."

Marcus sighed, and gave in. They stopped for a bit to handle the Pidgey, who was reluctant at first, but allowed them to straighten their wing, and allow it to fly. It was just a bit dislocated. They fed it, gave it water, and walked on their merry way. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it, Marcus?"

"I think you're becoming soft, man. That's a Pokémon! Didn't we swear off Pokémon?" He was irritated that Felix was becoming corrupted by the thought of Pokémon being cute.

"It's just another living thi-" Felix started, but was interrupted by a Pidgey landing on his arm. He stared at it, and Marcus looked disgusted.

"Get that thing off your shoulder!"

"No! It likes me. I will let it go when I think it can handle being on its own!"

Marcus glared daggers at Felix, but allowed him to do what he wanted.

Felix was alright with the Pidgey. He decided to name it Steelwing, so its wings wouldn't become injured again. Without Marcus knowing, he bought a Pokéball so Marcus wouldn't know he kept the Pidgey. Felix loved that bird, and he trained it in secret, helping it to become more aware, strengthening it, talking to it, communicating with it. They seemed to share a bond that he didn't even feel with Marcus. It was always by his side, always there to be with him, always there to keep fighting alongside his trusted human friend.

But now, Steelwing was falling away.

"Nils, stop."

Nils looked at Felix as if he were crazy, but realized he was indeed still sane.

After Rapidash came to a halt, Felix stepped off. He fell to his knees, and held the Pidgeot in his arms. Tears cascaded down his face, and he made no move to stop them. Pidgeot stared deeply into Felix's eyes, and Felix returned the gesture. They both knew he wouldn't make it.

"Steelwing..." Tears fell on the bird's beak. "I love you. I hope you will be there, on the other side of the abyss. I know you will wait for me."

Pidgeot seemed to understand every word that Felix spoke, and looked back as if to say, "I will."

With that, Felix brought the bird in for a warm embrace, the last he would ever do so in this life.

Tears wet the plumage of the beautiful bird, and Felix wept uncontrollably. He had experienced the passing of friends before, but nothing so profound and utterly crushing as this.

Felix stopped breathing for a bit to hear Steelwing's last breath. The final action. The last moments.

Felix sat motionless for an eternity. He didn't think, he didn't breath, he didn't do anything.

The passing of a great friend.

The final round.

The end.

Felix felt empty.

After eons of forlornness, Felix stood and turned to the Rapidash, still waiting and climbed aboard, Steelwing in his arms.

A ceremony was to be held after the war.

* * *

Felix walked passed everybody, and Nils was left to explain what had all happened.

He started with the capturing of all the Pokémon, then the two women who appeared. He described his part of the battle, then what he witnessed of Felix's. He ended after his close moment with Pidgeot.

Everybody was sober, and Marcus was the first to break the silence. "He loved Steelwing. He loved that Pokémon before he loved Pokémon. We took care of it, then it decided it liked us, and he decided he liked it. He trained it right under my nose."

Nils didn't know this part of Felix. That Pokémon was what got Felix started in Pokémon. He didn't like Pokémon before Steelwing. It was kind of the same way with him and Vapor...but not really. He had no interest in Pokémon before he had an Eevee. That was the day that changed his whole life.

He was fresh out of high school, six years ago. He disliked anything that had to do with Pokémon. Intarga, the country he was from, was the second largest Pokémon league fanbase in the world, this country being the first. He hated the thought of Pokémon battling for sport, until he was attacked by a Pokémon. A large Ratticate had jumped out of the bushes. It almost bit his arm off, but it got no such opportunity, when an Eevee tackled it, and fought it to fend off Nils's predator.

The Ratticate ran away, and Eevee turned to Nils. It eyed him up and down, and decided that this man was helpless without it. It never left him alone, which partially annoyed Nils, but he always remembered that he probably owed his life to the small fox. He allowed it to stay, but eventually came to love the small creature.

He loved it so much, he wanted it to evolve. He tried a thunder stone, but the Eevee wouldn't let Nils come near it with the stone in his hand. He then tried a fire stone, but the Eevee disliked that just as much. Nils settled on a water stone, and the Eevee was just fine with that. So, Eevee became a Vaporeon, and Nils named it Vapor.

Since then, they moved to new lands, traveling the world, dueling new Pokémon, and then came to this new land, and ran into Felix within a week or so. They traveled in an illegal tourist business to get here.

"We will wait for all the other groups to gather," Felix announced, "then we will attack."

All the people present cheered, and Felix stopped them. "We have a strategy that must be followed exactly."

Felix then explained the plan, and everybody seemed to know what was going on.

"We will prepare tirelessly, right?"

Everybody cheered, and raised a fist to the air.

Felix nodded in agreement, and motioned for Lilith to follow him.

Nils then remembered, _Janice_. He hadn't seen her, and wondered where she could be. He hoped more than ever she would be alright. Immediately after this thought occurred to him, she walked through the door.

"Janice!" he said urgently, then ran over and embraced her in a bear hug.

"Nils..." she said softly and cheerfully. She then noticed that Nils looked downhearted. "What happened when I was gone?"

"I think I need you and Sam to be there when I tell you my story."

* * *

Felix hugged Lilith, and cried into her hair. She hugged him back, spoke comforting words to him, and cried into his chest.

Felix didn't want to cry right now, but he didn't have as firm of control over his emotions as he first thought.

"Don't worry. After the battle, we will be gone, and we will be happy in our own little, secret place."

"I know. I love you so much."

"I love you just as much, Felix."

Her voice was the most beautiful of angelic voices that he had ever heard.

Hearing her say these things stopped his tears. He felt strength to see this course to the end.

He would make it.

They would make it.

Together.

* * *

Nils told the girls about his life, how he had a dislike for Pokémon, how an Eevee saved him, how he then came to an appreciation for Pokémon after that. He told them about his travels, the sights he saw, the different kinds of Pokémon he encountered, his journey to this land, and his overall experience he had while being here.

"Neels, I theenk you like being here."

"Good job, Sam. What gave it away?"

"Oh, don't bee so hard on mee!" She was mock sad. "I am only trying too bee relatable, here!"

"Don't worry, Sam. Nils doesn't have a particularly good respect for women, anyways." Nils gave her a stink-eye. She smiled at that. "He doesn't even respect his girlfriend all that well."

"Janice, stop it!" he said in a whiny voice.

"What? Neels! For shaime! I thought you were against womanizing for good!"

"Nope! He just does what he feels like! He never changes!"

Nils was blushing at their teasing. Would it ever stop?

"Nope! It will never stop!" Nils thought she was reading his mind, until she said, "We will never know the end to Nils's oppression of women."

"Neels!"

"How do you girls come to these conclusions?!" Nils yelled.

"Oh, we are very, very perceptive, Nils. We just notice what you do." Janice seemed smug. Very smug.

"Neels, do you need a lesson on how too reespect women?"

"No!"

"I think he wants a lesson, Sam."

Before they could teach him anything, Marcus came into the room. Their private teaching lesson was cut short before it had begun.

Janice leaned closer to Nils, and whispered, "You win this round."

And with that, Janice and Sam walked away, talking about girly things.


	8. Rising Tension

"We're sorry, Most Superior!" Flora cried.

"We couldn't defeat Felix!" Aquis pleaded.

The Most Superior didn't soften his scathing glare on the two. He continued to shame them for their insolence through his gaze.

"How did both of you not defeat him?!" he yelled in fury.

The two women cringed and shrunk from him, and Aquis said weakly, "He had a partner. He defeated me."

"Who was this partner?"

"His name was..."

"Nils," Flora said quickly, so they would avoid punishment.

"I've never heard of any person named Nils before."

"He's not from this country. I think he's from Intarga."

"A foreigner...so he's been bringing in aliens to help...We need to eradicate them."

"What would you-"

"Leave me be. That is what."

And with that, the two left, happy and ashamed.

* * *

Felix watched the last of the resistance groups gather on the surface, in the woods. He marvelled at the sheer amount of people that he was in control of. He didn't realize how large his own fleet had grown. He didn't expect this to actually come to fruition, despite what the man had told him. He could remember the instance so clearly, so vividly.

"You are...the one...who will...will...lead them...into...battle..."

He didn't expect this.

He sent a few of his closest soldiers to spread the plan; describe in detail how tomorrow night was to happen. He didn't want a single thing to go wrong. Not a thing could go wrong. Not a single thing could be miscalculated.

He didn't expect this.

He emphasized the point that nothing could go wrong.

He didn't expect war.

* * *

Nils was busy teaching the army what the plan was. He didn't have a doubt as to what it was or how it was to be carried out. He moved along the Intargan section. He could speak Intargan, after all. He went on, carrying out the lesson to everybody around. He couldn't mess it up.

"Nils!"

Nils froze with fear. He didn't believe he heard the voice he heard. He didn't listen to it, and made a small effort to run away. He couldn't-

"Nils! Get back here!"

It _was_ the voice he heard. He started to run, not bothering to check who was chasing him. He didn't leave his pursuer any chance to catch him. He couldn't. He was reasonably sure he-

Someone grabbed the scruff of his neck. Nils turned to look at who had him in his grasp. He didn't know whether his fear was assuaged or enhanced.

It was Lennie. Lennie was a big man. His muscles were unmatched almost anywhere...at least, in Intarga. His eyes were filled with rage. His shirt was an almost skin-tight, sand coloured t-shirt. No designs. His jeans were dark blue, almost black. His sneakers...well, that part didn't matter at the moment, Nils was staring into certain death. His skin was a very dark tan. Which only made his face seem angrier.

"Nils! I will beat the crap outta you! Teach you to steal from me!"

And with that, Nils was thrown on the ground. Before he could move, Lennie was over him, punching him really hard in the face. Before he could get in a third punch, someone grabbed his fist, stopping him.

"What are you doing?! Let me-"

"Stop."

Lennie realized who he was yelling at, and relaxed his muscles immediately. He let Nils up, but the anger in his eyes never left. He stared hard at Nils.

"Nils, what's happening?"

Nils turned to look, and it was Felix. He knew he wasn't getting out of this one. "I...ummm...uhhh...stolesomethingfromthisman."

"What did you steal?"

He was just as fast, if not faster, than Janice was with her follow-up question.

"Well...it was...a water stone."

"And it was my last one!" Lennie yelled in English.

Nils didn't know he could speak English.

"Nils," Felix began, "what can we do to fix this situation?"

Nils's mind went blank. He didn't think that Felix would be thinking of a solution so quickly. He didn't know why, though; it's what Felix does. He started to think of how to appease Lennie.

"I guess...I...could pay him back..."

This statement didn't seem to faze Lennie in the slightest. "How?"

That was the part he didn't think about.

"I don't know."

"Well," Felix cut in, "we don't have time to discuss this. We have a war to prepare for. This can wait until after."

Lennie seemed to agree, and respected Nils for the moment. Nils offered his hand, and Lennie shook it right away.

"Truce, then we will discuss how we will go about being even," Lennie said in Intargan, in the dialect that showed respect for the other.

"Agreed," Nils responded, the proper Intargan way, showing he had the same respect.

If Felix was confused, he hid it very well. Nils went on, spreading the plan, and when they were going to attack, where and how.

He loved the plan. He was only hoping that Janice would survive through it, even if he didn't.

* * *

He was sent to deliver the message, the very, very, _very _important message. Nobody could read it, except for the recipient. Nobody must read it! That's what Felix told him. Nobody.

Seth was anxious to just walk into the offices of the Superiors; the enemy territory, the people they were going to destroy. Would they find out by his demeanor? Would they know what was happening?

No! They couldn't! Seth had to act as convincing as possible. He couldn't let a hint of fear past his eyes or his face.

Seth hoped for the best, and prepared for the worst as he entered the fanciest looking building of all of Supinion City. It was a grand building, but no matter how grand it was, Seth saw it for what it really was: a hideout for thieves. Thieves who stole from the common man! Thieves who had no respect for their fellow humans!

Seth spoke to the receptionist, and told her he was on official business. She seemed to be a bit skeptical.

"Please let me in. I am here on account of Felix, the leader of the Trainers."

Her eyes widened with terror, as she fumbled with her speakerphone for a bit. She finally got through to the leader of the Superiors. He answered, and his voice sounded like liquid iron: hot enough to change shape, but not hot enough to flow like water. His voice was gurgly, low and terrifying. He gave the messenger permission to enter. Seth could tell she hated to contact him, and that made him feel sorry for her. She seemed to truly hate her job.

Seth walked into the office where the man sat. The back of his chair was turned towards him. Seth couldn't see a single bit of him.

"Sir?" Seth spoke out to the darkness.

"Set the message on the table."

It sounded even worse in person, almost drier, scruffier, like the voice of a man who had killed too much in the past.

He gingerly placed the envelope on the table, then the man said, "Leave."

He didn't hesitate for a moment. He was gone.

* * *

The whole herd of people snuck through the trees, headed for Supinion City. Despite their massive number, they were surprisingly quiet. They all reached the edge of the forest, and waited for daylight to arise. Nobody moved a muscle. Nobody made a sound.

That is, except for Felix.

Felix, at the break of dawn, walked out to the middle of the pasture. A large rock protruded from the earth. It sloped up, it seemed, to allow him to easily ascend. He reached the top, and waited for the Most Superior to appear. It wouldn't take long.

After about ten minutes, the city gates opened. A huge crowd of people was on the other side, and Felix could tell that they weren't citizens or common folk, even from the distance of two hundred meters. They were all Masters, and leading the herd were the Superiors. Felix saw all their flashy outfits, and how delicate they looked. The last one he noticed was the Most Superior.

They marched towards the spot that Felix stood at. When they were at a distance that either could be heard with a loud speaking voice, they stopped.

Now, Felix could see him very clearly. His clothes were mostly made up of dark purple and black, in a way that reminded him of what poison would look like. The man's boots were black leather, and reached halfway up his calves. His pants were half purple and half black, and they were almost skin-tight. His vest was black leather, and his long sleeved shirt was a very dark purple. His hair was covered up by a purple-and-black bandanna, and his eyes were black holes bored into his face. His face would actually be a handsome one, if not for his eyes.

After about five minutes of staring each other down, the Most Superior questioned, "What is the meaning of this letter?"

"To get you to come out. To get you to come play." There was an edge to these words.

"What if I don't want to play your game?" He was already done with this.

"Why would you come out here if you didn't want to play my game?"

That seemed to make sense to him. "What game do you have prepared?"

"It's called: 'Catch the Felix'. If you manage to catch the Felix, you win a prize."

"What would that prize be?"

"My life."

The whole crowd liked the sound of that game, and they were all eager to begin playing. The Most Superior didn't.

"My other four Superiors tell me you have a talent. Would you mind showing it to me?"

Felix took a look at him, and announced loud enough for the whole crowd of Masters to hear, "Unknown name, Most Superior, controls all other Superiors. Suspected of murder on multiple accounts, both Pokémon and humans."

He didn't like the sound of the first bit of information. He seemed a bit disappointed. "So, you don't know my name after all. I was hoping to hear it again, after so long."

"All that aside, shall we start playing?" Felix asked teasingly.

"I don't want to play your crummy game anymore."

Felix waited for him to almost go, then said, "Scared?"

He froze, then asked, "What?"

Happy that he struck a nerve, he continued. "I asked if you were scared. As in, maybe I could get away. You wouldn't want me to get away, I would cause too much trouble. Your fancy houses and parks and price tags would suffer too much of a loss. I am the fish you don't want to get away. I am the magic fish.

These remarks were getting to him and his pride. "No, I won't let you get away. You'll only be running, as it says in this letter, I presume? You do often tend to stick to the rules."

"I do that to give people a false lead."

Felix thrust his fist into the air, and thousands of Pokéballs flew into the air. The air was red for a split second, then the grounds were filled with Pokémon. All the Trainers, about six hundred and forty, burst from the bushes and charged the Masters and Superiors.


	9. Height of the Revolution

Nils watched as Felix and the Most Superior spoke at each other. The air was becoming thick with tension. It was clear that the Most Superior didn't think much of Felix, as alone as he was right then. Felix's stance changed, and he was getting ready for what was about to happen. Nils could tell he was excited. He knew what was going to happen. They all knew what was going to happen, except for the Masters and Superiors.

Felix did something different. He changed the rules.

He thrust his arm into the air, allowing for the start of the overthrow of the government. Nils released all his Pokémon, and charged alongside all his friends and allies.

He charged forward without a second regard to himself.

The stampede of people overwhelmed Nils. He couldn't think or hear a single thing, except for the deafening sound of shouts, the thundering thuds of feet on earth, the chaos all around him. He had been preparing for this day for days now, but he wasn't ready...that's not saying much. He almost couldn't handle the noise.

At this point, the Masters and Superiors were fumbling with their Pokéballs, trying to react to the herd of Pokémon rushing towards them, and were throwing them out unevenly. The air filled with the shouts, commands, and attacks cutting through the air. Flying Pokémon were locked in battles with other flying Pokémon, fending each other off, some falling and some being struck by the attacks of Pokémon restricted to the ground.

Nils looked around for Felix, Janice, Sam, Marcus, and everybody else he knew. He could only see Felix standing on top of his rock, watching everything unfold in front of him. After a while, he decided to join the fray, and threw most of his Pokémon out. He jumped from his rock, and ran into the crowd.

* * *

Felix ran through the mass confusion that was the climax of the rebellion. He pictured it so clearly in his mind. The death of the Most Superior. He couldn't allow him to live any longer. He couldn't allow him to drain citizens of money. He had to do something about it.

Felix ran forward.

He looked around all the buildings, expecting something to be there. He saw it, he wasn't sure if it saw him. A sniper.

Felix ran forward.

He had to battle the Most Superior. He had to defeat him. He had to stop him.

Felix ran forward.

The bodies of Pokémon and people alike piled around him. Some wounded, and some simply that. Bodies. He paid them no regard. Most of them were Masters and their Pokémon, anyways.

Felix ran forward.

He finally met what he was running towards. The Most Superior. Felix stared him in the eyes, and he stared back into his shades. Neither moved a muscle, even with the turmoil around them.

Finally, they both released two Pokémon into the air. They opened, leaving four Pokémon behind.

"Scyther! Swampert!" Felix yelled enthusiastically. He was ready to meet his greatest opponent.

"Mightyena! Scyther!" The Most Superior screamed. He was also just as ready to meet who he was going to defeat.

They both realized that the other had Scyther, and almost recalled their Pokémon, if only for that. They both hated to be alike.

They stood, their Pokémon waiting. After a while, Felix shouted, "Scyther, slash! Swampert, take down!"

"Mightyena! Sucker punch! Scyther, use razor wind!"

Mightyena was the first into action, as it rushed mercilessly towards Swampert. Both Scythers aimed their attacks at each other. When Mightyena collided with Swampert, it simply held him. After it was sure Mightyena wouldn't get away, she spun through the air, and slammed Mightyena into the ground with enough force to knock out many larger Pokémon. Mightyena wasn't any regular Pokémon, however. It got up, and lunged at Swampert once again. The Scythers embellished their blades in combat, and Felix's tactfully dodged the sharp winds the other had conjured, allowing an opening for it to attack. The slash was mostly successful; it was blocked just in time before it had done any major harm.

"Mightyena, bite it!"

"Swampert, mud bomb!"

Mightyena lurched in for the bite, and Swampert produced a small, wet ball of mud. She thrust it forward, and it exploded in the Most Superior's Pokémon's face. It blew it back, and got mud in its eyes.

"Scyther! Night slash!" Felix yelled.

"Mightyena, keep trying! Scyther, vaccuum wave!"

Mightyena tried to fight the foe it couldn't see, and was failing. Felix's Scyther moved in a zig-zag motion towards its foe. The other Scyther whirled its arms in a conical shape, fast enough to blur, creating a wave of void, which caught Felix's Scyther in it. It dropped, unable to breath for a split second.

"Scyther, use cut! Cut it in half!" The Most Superior seemed crazy.

His Scyther jumped, raised it's arm high, and Felix's Scyther saw it's opportunity. It sprang into action, and fast as it could, slashed its prey. No intense damage could be done, however. It left a wound across the chest.

"Swampert, hammer arm!"

Swampert lifted his arms high, and leapt into the air. During its descent, it brought its arms down upon the unsuspecting Mightyena, who was crushed. With its last ounce of strength, it used take down, causing both Pokémon to fall unconscious.

"Scyther! Hyper Beam!" The Most Superior shouted.

"Scyther! X-scissor!"

Felix's Scyther crossed its arms and slashed at the other. When it uncrossed, it swung both with the intent to slash in half. The other dodged, however, slid back, and unleashed its charge of sunlight. Felix's Scyther barely had enough time to dodge, and Felix did, too. The same could not be said for another Pokémon, a Pidgey.

Felix was caught aback for just a moment, nothing to mean life or death, then shouted, "Scyther! Fly into the air! Get away!"

Not questioning his trainer's command, Scyther flew into the air.

"Scyther! Follow it!" Felix's foe shouted.

It flew after the other, and Felix charged the Most Superior. This was an unexpected move. Felix pummeled his face with one firm punch. A spray of saliva was forced out of his mouth. He staggered for a bit, then returned the favor with an uppercut, connecting firmly. Felix's chin stung from the sudden pain. He reeled, then rammed the man, shoulder first. This knocked him back, and Felix took this opportunity to kick his face. He grabbed his foot, then kicked his face, instead. Felix pulled his foot away, rubbing his chin, and saw that the man had pulled a knife. He waited for him to make the first move, who also waited for Felix to make the first move. Felix faked an attack, which the man responded to, thrusting his arms upward. Felix jabbed his abdomen, and he bent over in pain, he didn't prepare for it. Felix kicked for his hand and unarmed him. While doing that, the man grabbed his foot. Before he had a chance to do anything, Felix brought his foot to the ground, which dragged his match down, also. Whence he was on the ground, Felix kneed him firmly in the nose. He fell down to the ground, and lay on his back. He tried to kick Felix, but he grabbed his foot, stepped on his other leg, and twisted it. The man yelled in pain; he was twisting further than a foot should go. He let go, satisfied when the leg was dislocated in all of its joints. Now he was sure not to get up. Felix stood, looking down at this man. The man responsible for the death and plunder of many honest people.

He knew what he needed to do. He needed to serve justice.

No vengence or revenge included.

For the people.

He stepped on the man's throat. He leaned his weight into the suffocation of him. He would end the terrible reign of the Masters.

That is, if he had the time.

Felix was suddenly thrown back with the force of a truck slamming into him. A truck focused into one point. A bullet.

The sniper had seen him.

The world was quickly draining of colour. Blue, green, yellow, purple, gone. The only colour that lingered was red, and that one didn't fade. He saw splashes of red all around him: blood. The only thing that was still colour. He looked at the Most Superior.

He was clawing at his throat, grasping for dear life. Felix had almost crushed his windpipe, but he didn't succeed. Jacob got up, despite his leg and pain, and looked at Felix, pitiful in his wakest hour.

"I know you know my name. Don't lie about it. Tell me!" he said, kicking Felix in the stomach.

Felix coughed up blood, and it splattered in front of him, adding to the amount of colour he could see.

"Jacob... Why...?" was all Felix could get out.

"Why? Why?!" Jacob was furious, and kicked Felix again, who coughed up more blood. "Because I wanted to get revenge. I wanted to make sure you would die by my hands."

After he stopped coughing, Felix asked, "For...for what?"

Jacob leaned in close, and said, "For stealing the one I love. For Lilith."

Felix then remembered. That one moment that had changed his life. He couldn't help but to be taken back to that moment.

It was a rainy day. The skies overhead were darkening into dusk, but it was still before the sun set. Twilight. Felix was walking along a street in Supinion City. The wind was biting into his very being, and he turned the collar up on his jacket to avoid becoming too wet underneath. He walked around a corner, and he heard some shouting. It was a couple arguing. He was yelling crude words to her, and she was yelling back at him. They seemed to have no respect for each other. Felix listened for a bit longer.

"You always do this! You always leave me at the last moment, you bitch!" The man screamed, loud enough for the entire block to hear.

"I'm not as bad as you! You are _always _telling me about the things I do, well, don't let me get started on you!"

"You-"

"If you don't stop yelling at her right now, I will make your life miserable with a few contortionist acts, and you'll be the performer," Felix cut in.

The man turned and jumped, not expecting there to be somebody.

After regaining his composure, he man turned cocky, and said, "Prove it."

That was the wrong thing to say.

Felix, faster than either of them could react, almost faster than he finished, grabbed his arm, twisted him around, and pulled his biceps across his shoulder blades, and his forearm in front of his face.

The man yelled, and Felix let go. He had a dislocated arm.

The man was angry, and glared at Felix. After a while of staring, Felix reached out and relocated it before he could react.

That also seemed to hurt him.

"Follow me," he said to the woman.

They walked away, and out of view of the man.

They walked for a bit, in silence, save the noise being made all around them by the rain, bicycles, and people talking.

Felix walked on, wondering where to take her to be safe. He needed-

"My name's Lilith, by the way."

"Lilith?"

"Yeah. That was Jacob...my boyfriend...well, I guess he's not my boyfriend anymore, huh? Hehe..." She seemed to be unsure of what she should say in this situation. She didn't seem to know what to do with her life. "He's very controlling, and won't give up. I think...he's a stalker. He sometimes comes into the place I work, and he just found out where I moved."

She seemed very pretty under the grayness of the sky and the rain.

"You know..." Felix began, "I could...find a place to take you and be safe." He felt a nervousness in his chest. He didn't feel this way around any girl before.

Her eyes brightened up. "Really? You mean it?"

His face began to heat up a bit, and he said, "Yeah, it's no big deal. It's just about...eight days away, in Slidona City."

She smiled, and said, "I think I would like to go there. I've never been anywhere besides Supinion all my life."

They both shared a smile, and then she leaned on him. "So what's your name?"

"Felix."

She rested a bit more heavily. "I've always liked that name."

"That's right. You took her away from me," Jacob said.

Felix was pulled back into the time that was the present.

"And now, I will have the pleasure of killing you." His face was twisted with rage and sick delight. He now had his knife again, and lifted it to bring it down. Before he could, however, his eyes widened with horror. He was frozen, and could do nothing. A hand appeared on his shoulder, and Jacob was pulled away from Felix. Nils stood, and stomped on his throat, crushing his windpipe.

Nils then immediately tended to Felix, "It's okay, don't worry."

"No, it's not."

* * *

Nils instantly lost track of Felix when he jumped. It was as if a needle was thrown into a haystack. He looked around, and saw the most intense battles he had ever seen. It wasn't just Pokémon against Pokémon, it was Pokémon against people, people against Pokémon, people against people, on top of that.

Nils pushed on, acutely aware of his own self. He knew that they only needed to hold out for a bit longer. He battled a couple times, with a few Pokémon that he had on him. He avoided fistfights, though. He knew he couldn't hold his own on one. He ran into Janice, literally.

"Isn't this exciting?" She yelled.

"Exciting? Yes, it is. It's also one of the most terrible things I've ever experienced," he yelled back.

"One of? What's the first?"

"Loving you!"

They looked at each other for a moment, to confirm that the feeling was mutual, then got back to fighting, making sure to stay close together.

After a while of chaos and destruction, the Masters got a surprise from the back. Half of the Trainers had tunneled under, and now appeared behind the full force of the Masters, with the strength of all the citizens that had Pokémon added to them. They quickly destroyed the Masters and Superiors.

Nils felt that something was wrong.

He started to search the buildings. He knew there was something up there, but he couldn't see it.

"Nils, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, but I feel-"

He saw it.

A building, forty-six stories high, the highest floor, sat a sniper. He put a hand to his ear, and yelled, "Take out that sniper before it manages to do any-"

As Nils spoke these words, the sniper shot. Nils knew who the target was.

"Nooo!"

Nils ran to the spot the sniper shot, and was mortified to see a scene he never thought he would see. Two Scyther were fighting in the air, and Felix lay on the ground, with a man who held a knife in the air staring down at him.

Nils pulled his lucky throwing knife from his back pocket and threw it firmly into the man's back. It stuck, deep. The man stood, frozen. Nils pulled him away from Felix, and looked at the man who would have ended Felix's life. He lay there, looking at the man who stood over him. Nils dutifully raised his foot, and lowered it on the man's throat, crushing his windpipe instantly.

He ran over to Felix. He was hit by a wave of despair.

There was blood all over Felix. There was almost no part of him that wasn't covered in blood. He was almost motionless as he looked up at Nils.

After scanning him over and over, Nils started to comfort Felix, "It's okay, don't worry."

Felix shook his head, and said, "No, it's not."

Nils's vision began to water, and he could feel streams of tears flow down his cheeks.

"Don't worry. It's...your turn...now. You can...do...this."

"Where are you going? How can I do this?"

"I'm going to...travel the...abyss. I'm going...to join...Steelwing...and wait...for Lilith and...Marcus,...and you,...and everybody...else." He had such great trouble getting the words out. "You...I trust...you. I picked you...for a rea...son...I know...you will...do the...right thing..."

Nils didn't hold back his tears, and they flowed freely down his face. His sobbing was starting to become uncontrollable, and he was losing one of his most dear friends on this day.

"Nils..." Nils looked up and stopped his sobbing for a bit. "Take my...glasses...off."

Nils slowly and carefully removed his glasses. What was hidden underneath shook his entire foundation. Felix's eyes were turquoise, the same colour as his own. The white of his left eye was not white, but red, due to the scar left on his face.

"Nils... take those... shades... Take them,... and... my son... I'm... so... proud... I... love... ... you... Please... let me... see... Lilith..."

Nils stepped back, to allow Lilith to get closer, and share his last breath. They stared into each other's eyes, and Nils looked away, unable to bear it any longer. Janice embraced him in a long, comforting hug, and he wrapped his arms around her. He simply cried into her hair, unable to do anything else.


	10. With the Wind

The last of the Masters and Superiors had been eradicated. Some who pleaded were given a second chance, as they sincerely wanted to change their lives. Nils had donned the shades of his father. He decided he would only remove them when in the presence of only Janice, Marcus, or Lilith, his mother. He walked, and what was left of the Trainers decided to leave it up to him to decide what to do, concerning government.

He didn't have the slightest clue as to where to go. The country needed a new government, and it needed one fast.

Some mistook him for his father, and when they realized it wasn't Felix, _Like the clothes and missing scar didn't tip them off_, they apologized, made an excuse to leave, and did so.

After a while of walking, he ran into Janice, Sam and Marcus.

"Nils," Sam replied, "vat do you want us too do?"

"We aren't sure what the next step should be," Janice added.

"Felix did pick you, after all," Marcus reminded him.

He was already becoming his father.

Nils stood for a bit, thinking about what jobs each of them should have, what they would be fit for.

"Sam," he stated dutifully and purposefully. "You will be in charge of all medical proceedings. The head Pokémon nurse. If there's a problem, you will be the consultant."

This caught her off guard. "Head...nurse?"

"Yes. I know it's a large responsibility, but I trust you. I rely on my father's instinct, and he chose to have you closest to him. So, if my father can trust you, I can also trust you."

Talking about his father hurt him, but he didn't let it show. Not yet.

She seemed to let herself accept the new title she had been given. She wrestled with herself a bit, then said, "Okay. I veell do eet."

Nils smiled, and said, "Thank you. I knew I could trust you.

"Marcus. You will be the consultant Pokémon expert. Your experience far outshines mine, and I will be pleased to be able to work in close proximity with you. Also, you can start that gym you've always wanted to do, and we'll name it after Steelwing, right?"

Marcus took his position better than Sam did. He performed a short bow, and said, "Yes, sir."

"Oh, Marcus, don't be so formal with me. We're friends."

Marcus looked at him slyly, and said, "Your father always said that, too."

Pang of guilt and hurt.

He was just about to leave, then Janice approached him, and asked, "So, what about me?"

"You," Nils began, pulling her in for a hug, "are going to be my wife. We are going to have lots of children."

He stared into her beautiful, deep blue eyes, and he swooned. It was almost enough to take his mind off of his father. Almost.

"Do you want to go...somewhere else? Somewhere private?"

Nils'es composure must have been weighed down a bit, because she started to pull him away, back underground, but then he said, "No, I have one more thing to do."

He ran around the field, looking for one very specific person. He looked just about everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found. Until he found him, of course.

"Seth!"

Seth visibly cringed and jumped at his name being called, and when he saw Nils, he was confused a bit. He stood with a bit of a slump, and didn't seem to have much confidence at all.

"Heirloom, now," Nils mentioned, motioning to his glasses. Seth nodded a bit. "I was wondering if you would want to be my secretary. I do need one. I don't know of any braver man than you."

Seth's stance became rigid for a moment, then he straightened up a bit. He was actually a lot taller than Nils, which he didn't notice how short he was because his smallish composure didn't draw much attention to him.

"Why, I would be...happy about that," Seth said, beaming.

"Thank you," Nils said, beaming right back at him. "What I need you to do now is to assign people jobs and positions based on their background and contribution to the revolution. Sam, Marcus and Janice already have positions, so you don't need to worry about them. They'll be fine."

Seth nodded dutifully: it was his duty. His calling.

Nils bade him farewell, then returned to Janice, and they headed back to the forest.

* * *

They reached the entry to the underground tunnel system, no fear of having to use the code, for it was useless to do it now.

They pulled up the trap door, and entered the tunnel. Nils took this time to examine the walls a bit closer, and noticed that there were the roots of trees embedded in the walls for a ways down. After a while, the tunnel became just barely deep enough that no roots could penetrate their fortress. Another peculiar thing: all the wrong tunnels had been filled in. No fear of going the wrong way. They reached the spot in the wall for their underground base, and the tunnel seemed to end not too much further after that, about a meter. It was as if somebody had intentionally made it so.

When they entered, they saw Lilith standing there... well, she was leaning against a wall, but she was there.

"Welcome, lovebirds," she said, her emotions undetectable.

"Mom, what are you doing here?"

"Just making sure that you two got here safely," she said, with sarcasm and mock innocence.

"Well, we got here. We were just going to be alone for a bit," Janice said, almost pleadingly.

"I got that." She didn't look pleased.

"Lilith, nothing was going to happen. I just need some time to mourn." It sounded weird to call this woman he never met before "Mom", but then again...he has met her before, he just doesn't remember.

"Mind if I make sure? You are my son, after all."

"Alright fine." He just wanted to mourn now.

As they walked past, Lilith hugged both of them, and told them how much she loved them.

Nils walked straight for the dorm room, and sat down promptly on a bed. After doing so, Janice sat close, and hugged him. He fell over on her lap, and started to cry. Deeply. He just mourned the death of his father and his father's closest Pokémon companion. He vaguely heard Janice's support, which he felt bad for afterwards.

He didn't know how long this happened, or how long it would go on, but he soon woke up on Janice's lap. Feeling deprived of energy and just being sore, he silently and motionlessly wept. He then noticed that his pillows were pretty wet.

_Thank you, Janice, _he thought silently, so he wouldn't wake her up, _for always supporting me since that day we battled. And, I'm sorry for getting your legs wet._

He lay there, and she lay backwards. He didn't know how long this went on, but she eventually woke up, and carefully leaned forward, so as to not wake him up. She then started to sing. He felt a deep connection with the melody and the words. He couldn't help but to start crying again.

"Are you awake? I didn't want to wake you up. I'm sorry," she said in true sincerity.

"No, it's fine. I was awake before you started to sing. I promise."

She accepted that, and asked after a while, "So, where do we go from here?"

Nils had been thinking about that lately. He simply stated:

"Wherever we want to."


End file.
